On Thu, 24 Aug 2000, Bob Ammerman wrote:

> > Three words...  one solution:
> >
> > Methyl ethyl ketone.
>
> A pun?

Unintentional.  Embarrassingly enough, that hadn't occurred to me until
this morning.  That'll teach me to post right before going to bed.

When I was but a wee lad (OK, maybe 16 or so) I bought some military
surplus intrusion detectors.  Each was an extremely sensitive vibration
sensor (fine spring in a little tiny can) and a VHF transmitter.  Power
was from 3 little mercury cells, and the whole thing was encapsulated in
epoxy, then rubber coated to look like a clump of dirt.  You pulled a
little pin to turn on power to the thing, then you could listen to an AM
VHF radio for clicks when something walked or drove by within a few yards.

Of course, the batteries were all stone dead, so I had to get them apart.
Dad suggested MEK.  Worked like a charm!  Rubber and epoxy gone,
components undamaged other than some plastic bits softened or dissolved.
I was impressed.  Took a couple of days, if I recall correctly.

Dale
---
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new
discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it!) but "That's funny ..."
                -- Isaac Asimov

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