A little help from my friends...

From: Doc Shipley <doc_at_mdrconsult.com>
Date: Fri May 14 15:13:38 2004

Christopher McNabb wrote:

> On Fri, 2004-05-14 at 08:49, Adrian Vickers wrote:
>
>
>>I can't believe that these ones have been missed:
>>
>>A new bubble for the spirit level
>>A long weight
>>A bucket of steam
>>A glass hammer
>>A short stand
>
> On the submarine we used to send the nubies for sound-powered telephone
> batteries, 50 feet of waterline, relative bearing grease, and a
> machinist's punch. Just ask a machinist for a punch some time and see
> what happens. :-D

   In the oilfield in West Texas, we'd send the "worm" - new hire or
trainee - to fill up the water table. That's the coolant trough for the
line sheaves at the top of the derrick. It requires carrying a 5-gallon
bucket of water up a 95-foot ladder (40L bucket, ~30M ladder, for you
guys with sane standards) and of course it doesn't exist.

   When *I* was a new hand and they gave me that bucket, I laughed at
them and told them I helped build that derrick, and there wasn't any
damn water table on the blueprints. They then told me I was right, and
since I was such a smart guy, I could go spent 8 hours in thigh-deep
mud, trimming 2-3/8" (what, 7cm?) hardened bolts with a hacksaw.
*Those* did exist. :\

   The next day, they told me about the 6" pneumatic cutoff wheel they
had hidden from me.
Received on Fri May 14 2004 - 15:13:38 BST