I was under the impression that the system Otis invented had nothing to do with the lifting mechanism, but used an idler wheel and a centrifugal clutch which released the spring-loaded brakes when the car speed exceeded the normal amount. His demonstration involved having a guy with an axe cut the cables of the demonstration elevator car he was in. Just an urban legend? :dubious:
Nothing can be made idiot-proof because idiots are just too damn clever! 
There are those who learn by reading.
Others will learn by observation.
But some just have to whiz on the electric fence themselves
:rolleyes:
On a related note, something I’ve mentioned before: That cozy little restaurant has an equally “cozy” (read: cramped) kitchen with maybe one or two cooks in it. Not the full-sized catering kitchen with a dozen chefs you see in the movies.
Mine too, except it wasn’t a button, it was a lever. We had one elevator that serviced the odd floors, and another that serviced the even floors (+ lobby). Every now and then some smartass would tie a length of dental floss to the lever, send the elevator up without them in it, and then yank the floss when the elevator was between floors. Ha-ha, now everybody (including the people on ninth floor) has to walk up and down until building management can get an elevator service guy to come out and get the elevator running again.
Some movies are better than others on this point. In Copland, a bad guy deliberately fires a gun next to Sylvester Stallone’s head to fuck up the hearing in his remaining good ear. Black Hawk Down also had the soldiers dealing with TTS after a firefight.
Watched an ER documentary some years ago in which a construction worker was lying on a gurney, waiting for surgery. Seems a nail gun was hanging on a step ladder, and he walked into it; either the interlock or trigger had been by passed, and when he walked into it it fired a framing name into his chest. Like, completely in, thus the need for surgical extraction. He was not happy.
For the elevator crash folks…I’m guessing the brake mechanism doesn’t do anything if you start going up really fast?
Depends how close the wound is to the actual shoulder articulation I suppose. I once clean broke my collarbone and it took a while before anybody (myself included) noticed there was anything wrong besides soreness from the fall. I could move my arm just fine, it just hurt like the Dickens.
The idea of punching people with it, however, makes me wince as I write. Good way to engineer an open fracture IMO. And collarbone fractures are so easy and practical to set to begin with !
Oh my god this makes me absolutely crazy. A peck, at best. Tongues? Open mouths? GAH…
Thank you! the idea that lack of movement = death is ridiculous.
Really? A snapped neck doesn’t mean instant death? The head keeps blinking or something? Ew.
The neckbreak in standard-drop gallows is supposed to at least cause paralysis/unconsciousness so the condemned does not endure conscious strangulation, but it may not be instantly fatal by itself, though.
At first it was even simpler! The rope was attached to a leaf spring from a wagon, with the ends going through strong hoops on the car. Lifting the car drew the spring ends in. If the cable broke the spring would go slack and gouge into the shaft wall, stopping the car. Later, the shaft was lined on both sides with what looked like little ladders and the spring ends went between the steps.
It was an interesting job for ten years, but it had its ups and downs. And if the guy sitting across the aisle is also an expert witness, don’t ask to look at his photos. :eek:
You mean the display screen? Depends. Newer generation systems use ambient light amplification and are largely real color. Older systems used projected IR bounced off the object and then detected. Those screens displayed with green light images.
Yeah, watching injections shoved full needle into the neck is pretty frightening.
Yeah, they are running down to the deadline, have had hours of escalating problems as the poison becomes more acute, and finally, right as they enter the death throws, the hero rushes in and gives them the antidote, and poof they are magically a-ok. No side effects, recover in moments.
I have 2 inhalers - a corticosteroid and albuterol. I was shown a spacer for each but not required for either. I was told it helps people who have trouble activating the button and inhaling simultaneously. They fill the spacer then inhale.
A taser to the neck is not a sedative.
Correct, that is not a standard knock on the back of the head. That was a “knockout” shot that resulted in a quick rotating and tilting jerk of the head. That’s not a sure thing, either, but much more likely. But the Hollywood trope is a conk on the head that is a power switch off that leads to no further damage than a headache when they wake up.
I had a roommate in college (back in the late 1970s/early 80s) who ran through a glass door. I didn’t witness this exactly, but I heard it happen. He was drunk, and running after someone (who would eventually replace him as my roommate). He put his hand out in front of him as he was running, in order to (he hoped) hit the metal opening bar, and missed, and crashed through the door over the bar. Fortunately there were people around and 911 was called, and he got by with a lot of stitches. What probably saved him was that he hit the glass first with his hand.
Every time they think they’ve made it idiot proof, someone builds a better idiot.
And whenever someone puts on an original play in a too bit theatre, some Broadway bigwig will be in the audience to make them a star.
It do not work like that.
Actually, there is one place — albeit not a building — where they would all go off. On the hanger deck of an aircraft carrier a fire is Very Serious Business and the whole deck gets sprayed if one sprinkler head is set off. In one of Daniel V. Gallery’s memoirs he told of a sailor who found this out the hard way. He decided to prank a group watching a movie by setting off the sprinkler over them with a lighter on a pole. The Captain was not amused.
Movies set in ancient and medieval times are usually riddled from start to finish with inaccuracies.
A couple of entertaining take downs by an expert (links to YouTube videos):
Great Movie Fighting Techniques as illustrated by “Helen of Troy”
The history-pedants’ guide to The Last Kingdom - episode one
I’ve been using albuterol on and off since the mid '80s. It has always been recommended to either use a spacer or hold the inhaler 1 or 2 inches in front of your mouth. I was told by my doctor many moons ago that it was to prevent the initial rush of medication from splattering all over the back of your throat and not making it to your lungs. I’ve experienced this phenomenon a few times when I have used the inhaler with my lips around the opening, even with perfectly timed breaths. While this is a method that can be used you are not receiving the full dose of medication when you do. A quick google of several websites seems to back up what my doctor told me.
Actually this does happen, but often counterparty is either a co-worker or nobody at all, and instead of feverishly typing code, we mute our phone and say “I’m going to get that asshole first thing tomorrow.”
I was just reminded of this one on a tv show I recently watched: In real life if someone coughs, 99.99% of the time it’s nothing serious. On a movie or TV show if someone coughs, it’s always the beginning of a fatal disease.
Then there’s the vomiting corollary- if a young woman throws up in a movie or tv show and she hasn’t been drinking, it’s always a first sign she’s pregnant.
If someone is shot on the left side of their chest, it’s always quickly fatal- they’ll have just a minute or two for a few last words before they die. But if they’re shot on the right side of their chest, they’ll nearly always recover.
Ah, PO2 Joe Bluberry…
I wouldn’t call it a memoir, but Stand By-y-y-y-y to Start Engines is hilarious and mostly realistic!
Speak for yourself 