Also ignoring 'recent' in favor of historical
Tom.G said:
I was a teenager with a Model-T Ford Spark Coil (ignition coil). The interrupter (ignition points, on the primary side) was tightened down to remain closed and it was connected to a step-down transformer from a toy electric train. Could still draw a spark from the secondary. Somehow I ended up with my hands on opposite ends of the secondary (high voltage winding). Hand and arm muscles stayed contracted so I couldn't let go. Fortunately I was experimenting while sitting on the bed and used the remainder of my body to throw myself away from that alligator.
This reminded me of the time I manually disconnected the cable from the spark plug of a lawnmover, while it was running, because it wouldn't stop. It felt like I got hit with a sledgehammer. I flew backwards onto the driveway pavement.
Also, about the same time,
1. I jumped off a fence in the back yard, and managed to catch the steel clothes line under my chin. I flipped horizontal and fell onto the ground.
2. I was running though the house and decided to jump up and grab the horizontal door trim. Well, I stopped, my feet went up to the point I was vertical, and I fell backwards onto the floor and smacked my head. I literally saw a flash of light and 'stars'.
3. I was in a grocery store that had automatic doors. They were activated the old fashioned way by standing on a pressure pad. Well, after entering the store, I noticed that the pad to the outside actually protruded underneath the door. So, I thought I would test my agility, so I stepped on the pad expecting to jump away from the door. The door was faster than I was, so it opened on top of my foot, and it scrapped my foot over a metal frame. I cut open tow or three toes, and I had to hobble to my mom to let her know. Meanwhile, I left a trail of blood from the entry door to where my mom was in the store. She had to stop shopping and take me home, where she washed my foot and then applied an antiseptic spray that stung.
4. My brother and I used to race our bicycles down the sidewalk, lock the rear brake, and lay a 'scratch' (skid mark). One time, I was doing this, with a crowd of kids standing on either side of the sidewalk in front of the house. My little sister saw the crowd and decided she wanted to join the action. She ran to the sidewalk, but tried to get to the other side, just as I arrived and applied the rear brake. The edge of the handlebar caught her forehead and knocked her back. As she ran screaming back into the house, I was flying over the handlebar landing on my head and back. When the handlebar hit her forehead, the front wheel rotated 90 degrees and the bike (and me) flipped. My sister and I both had concussions. I remember blacking out then slowly getting up from the sidewalk and checking on my sister in the house.
I've had some close calls over the years.
As an adult, there have been a few times when I was driving a bit to fast for the conditions. One time, I came to a T-intersection and thought I was could slow and stop. Across the street from the intersection was a line of trees and a slope down to a farm. Well, I hit some ice and I couldn't stop. So I aimed for a spot between two trees, and steered the car between the trees and down the embankment. Fortunately, I guy was passing by in his pickup track, and he just happened to have a tow rope. He was kind enough to help me pull my car up the embankment and onto the rode, so I didn't have to call a towing service, or my wife to tell her I was going to be late because I drove off the road.
To be honest, I won't say I'm perfectly safe with low power beams (I don't mess around with high power or high levels of other risk), but man I didn't think that level of deviance existed...
These alignments are supposed to be done by the lab assistants, and they didn't do it. Took some readings hurriedly as my time was up. Results are looking pretty glum. Spoke to the HOD, probably she will try to assign me another day to the same experiment. But this glitch is already in my lab notebook.
