Stupid things we all must have done

[Profpointy]

Was mad keen in science, especially physics, in my youth and after watching an Open University program about electron beams being deflected by magnets had a go with a magnet bending the tv pictures. Really good this science. Oh f&*^ ! Colour casts all over the TV. Panic ! First thought, say nowt and turn TV off. Quickly realised I'd not make it through my mum's first line of interrogation, "have you been doing anything with the tv?" She knew I had an enquiring mind and would have suspected an experiment. Anyhow, by carefull stroking the screen with the magnet for about two hours I just about got rid of the colour casts - just as my parents' car came up the drive after they'd returned from their errands. Phew, that was close. I never owned up. I still love physics.

 

[Blue Hills]

In a house I used to live, I found one one socket in the kitchen (downstairs) that was connected to the upstairs ring. I was replacing it with a double at the time, so I was glad I always check such things rather than making any assumptions.

As a student we lived in a flat where the landing light stayed on after we had switched all the circuits off and the electric meter wheel seemed to have stopped dead. We never did find what it was wired into. Apparently this isn't totally unknown in hasty flat conversions.

 

[mustang1]

I once rode my bike without a front thru axle installed. Took me half a mile thinking "I really better check because something doesn't feel right" before I stopped.

 

[Mr Celine]

Was mad keen in science, especially physics, in my youth and after watching an Open University program about electron beams being deflected by magnets had a go with a magnet bending the tv pictures. Really good this science. Oh f&*^ ! Colour casts all over the TV. Panic ! First thought, say nowt and turn TV off. Quickly realised I'd not make it through my mum's first line of interrogation, "have you been doing anything with the tv?" She knew I had an enquiring mind and would have suspected an experiment. Anyhow, by carefull stroking the screen with the magnet for about two hours I just about got rid of the colour casts - just as my parents' car came up the drive after they'd returned from their errands. Phew, that was close. I never owned up. I still love physics.

I did this experiment too, but picked the 'switch off and say nowt' option and got away with it as the TV worked OK when next turned on.
I learned many years later when doing DIY repairs on an old TV that they degauss on start up, so any colour cast automatically disappears.

 

[Profpointy]

I did this experiment too, but picked the 'switch off and say nowt' option and got away with it as the TV worked OK when next turned on.
I learned many years later when doing DIY repairs on an old TV that they degauss on start up, so any colour cast automatically disappears.

That thought did occur to me some years later when installing (CRT) monitors in airports and train stations as an adult. They had a degauss button and also degaussed on power up. Could (maybe) have avoided two hours of panic

 

[ColinJ]

That thought did occur to me some years later when installing (CRT) monitors in airports and train stations as an adult. They had a degauss button and also degaussed on power up. Could (maybe) have avoided two hours of panic

My old Panasonic CRT TV used to do a very noisy degauss on power-up. There was always an almighty CLUNK as the power was fed into the coils and I could hear the current being rapidly ramped down over the next couple of seconds. (I think the idea was that a massive magnetisation was applied in one sense then slightly less in the other, then slightly less again and so on. Effectively (say) VERY north, south, slightly north, a smidge of south, almost no north, off - something like that. Thus swamping any accidental magnetisation, and gradually fading the deliberate magnetisation out.)

 

[ColinJ]

Sounds right!

 

[Blue Hills]

Made my morning with that reiver. Thanks.

She didn't laugh/see the funny side at all?

Or appreciate that
No greater love has a man than to stand inside a box awaiting the arrival of his loved one and do a pratfall onto a coffee table.



??

 

[Dogtrousers]

In the early 90s I lived in a small flat and bought my first colour telly (I've always been a late adopter). The picture had an awful colour cast, so I took it back to the shop and got another one. This was quite a hassle as I didn't have a car in those days so it involved significant amount of walking and train journeys carrying a big box containing a telly. The new one was similarly afflicted. By chance I found that moving it removed the colour cast. Putting a CRT telly on top of a hifi speaker which contains a big magnet is not recommended.

 

[TheDoctor]

You know how washing machine hoses don't automatically seal themselves when you take them off the water supply?
I didn't know that. Except I did, very soon afterwards.

Also, trying to climb up a slate roof with a TV antenna and a pocket full of tools and co-ax isn't the best time to find your trainers aren't as grippy as you'd thought. I cannot impersonate a gecko.

 

[Blue Hills]

mm - the half an hour of anger is a bit excessive I think.

Any concern for your wellbeing?

Are burglars in the habit of sound mixing a giggle and a boo?

Women, eh?

 

[Scoosh]

[QUOTE 4694934, member: 9609"]And it was also quite a fearful moment when I lost my balance with my arms pinned down my side, I just had to fall over like a tree being felled.[/QUOTE]Perhaps fortunate that your head wasn't the first thing to hit the table ...

... or maybe it was !

 

[Dogtrousers]

[QUOTE 4694924, member: 45"]First time climbing onto a kayak without really thinking about the physics. One foot on the boat, boat starts to move away from the bank. Increasing splits and then a desperate gekko struggle to keep myself out of the water.[/QUOTE]
My one and only kayak experience was interesting. We'd paddled around a bit on the canal and were packing up. My friend was standing up to his knees in shallow water at one end of a kayak, about to lift it on to the bank. I stepped in to the shallow water at the other end so we would have an end each. Except the water where I stepped in wasn't shallow. Far from it.

 

[Johnsop99]

A couple of years ago arrived at Kings School Worcester in the van for an event. Had special permission to park in the "square" to unload. Tyres on sack trolley seemed a bit soft, good job I've got a footpump. Checked tyre pressure on side of tyre, brain told me 60psi, less than the 110psi I put in the bike tyres, sounds about right. Got pumping, just over 50psi, almighty bang like a bomb going off, really echoed around the surrounding buildings. Had to unload the van by hand whilst expecting a firearms squad to arrive any minute. Had a closer look at the other tyre - Max pressure 30psi! (Exploding point approx. 52psi)! Got my eyes tested soon after, still can't hear anything.....

 

[TheDoctor]

Jumping from a canal bank onto a barge. Or not onto a barge, as the case might be.
Irish canals. Very deep and very very cold.