Author: DOuG pRATt

Boys need not apply

Stephen Spielberg’s Duel is probably the best known TV movie from the 1970’s. Equally noteworthy and memorable is Satan’s School for Girls, with Kate Jackson, Cheryl Ladd, Roy Thinnes, and a favorite of mine, British actress Pamela Franklin. Pamela is best known for her memorable role in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, playing a part that today would undoubtedly be toned down considerably.

But Pamela was most often seen in horror films. Not gory horror movies, but ghost stories and tales of the supernatural. Thanks to YouTube user drelbcom, the entire TV movie Satan’s School for Girls is embedded here, to put you in the mood for Halloween.

http://youtu.be/KYF8hOPm_qM

The difference between science and politics

Physicist Richard Feynman’s last hurrah was explaining to the American public, simply and directly, in 30 seconds, why the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up. Doing that opened up the question of why, if Morton Thiokol knew the O-ring material would be affected by the cold of that January 28 morning, did NASA decide to proceed with the launch?

http://youtu.be/UCLgRyKvfp0

Pulling on a Poulan

I’ve had a Weed Eater gasoline leaf blower for 10 or 12 years. The spark plug won’t come out anymore and the muffler is rattling around loose under the partially melted plastic body, but last fall it still started and ran. Knowing that its days are numbered, and with the New England autumn coming on fast, I’ve been looking for a replacement. Today I bought a Poulan Pro BVM210VS, on sale at Lowes for $90.

I got it home, installed the tube, put in some 2-stroke gas, and followed the starting instructions:

  1. Set the choke lever to “start”
  2. Press gas primer bulb 6 times
  3. Pull the cord five times
  4. Click the trigger to make choke switch over to “run”
  5. Pull the cord until it starts… or the cord comes out in your hand

Huh? That last part wasn’t in the instructions. I stared at the cord in my hand, no longer a part of the leaf blower. So I poured the gas back into the can and drove back to Lowes to return the Poulan Pro. When I got home again I saw that the old Weed Eater — also a Poulan product, by the way — still had some gas in it, and the thing started right up.