mold forms on cords, knobs, and tool handles

Yes, the yellow one has the most. I t hink my yellow ones are most likely to have this and when they do, they have the most. The one screwdriver that reminded me of this has a yellow plastic handle. (The other two things t hat reminded me a couple days ago where jumper wires with banana plugs, blue and green, but that's soft vinyl and not hard plastic. ......))

Maybe because one is yellow? I just based a whole paragraph on that!

Yes, I'm glad to learn about that. I thought I was so alone (boohoo).

In my case, I'll have 20 tools in a drawer, or 15 little tools in an inbox, and only a few get "moldy". I have to take some time later today to see how many are yellow.

In addition, the box of knobs is two boxes actually, in the same drawer of an old dresser. Theyr'e almost all brown or black, and I'll have to check if the moldy ones are all on top, or the bottom or something, but I don't recall that being the case. And only some get moldy.

The tooks and knobs have all spent 100% of their time in the previous year or years in the same room in my basement.

IOW, the environments are the same

That's only because I crossposted to alt.home.repair and sci.electronics.repair. If you want more of him, you have to go to the second ng.

I've long wished there was an easy way to tell which ng someone is posting from. I once put in my .sig, "probably posting from nnnnn", "probably" because I also read the other group directly sometimes, but it disappeared with a liater installation of Agent.

Wow, I wouldn't have known that if I hadn't crossposted.

Interestingly, I don't have to scrape mine off. I can brush it off with my finger, or a paper towel iirc. Of course that doesn't apply when it's in a crevice or crack.

"Mutant oil eating bacteria" was one of those flash in the pan '80s rock bands. ;)

Yep. So far, 27 different varieties of bacteria and fungus have added diesel fuel to their menu: When I drove a diesel pickup truck, I would occasionally add a biocide to the tank. Over time, the bugs are developing immunities to the common bug killers. Left to expand uncontrollably, this could be the end of civilization as we know it.

Meanwhile, researchers are working on a way to break down all the plastic bottles, containers, packaging, and junk that our civilization is so good at producing. At the present rate, we'll be swimming in plastic garbage unless something is done to accelerate decomposition. One of the methods proposed is to breed and release plastic eating bacteria in the landfills. etc. Eventually some bug will be found that eats plastic. It will leak out of the landfills, infest out homes, destroy everything made from plastic, and rewind civilization before the discovery of petroleum (steam punk?), which might not be such a bad thing.

Mine are on craftsman tools, which are not yellow.

I have an Xcelite nutdriver that is red and a Craftsman screwdriver that is clear with red stripes on it. Both of them have a white dust like material on them. This is the same stuff that has been called 'mold'. It is not mold, the plastic going bad.

And it left holes in m fingers too. LOL.

Huh? Because I chose not to post a picture, I don't have the news skills Jeff has? That's no wayi to draw conclusions.

You should learn to praise someone without having to run down someone else.

(...)

The white rot is plastic, not mold. So it is written, so it must be.

I scraped some of the white stuff from the plastic handle and put it under a x100 microscope. Not the best photos but I'll try again after yet another Friday night customer crisis. The photos show absolutely no structure, self simularity, or colonies characteristic of mold. I also heated some of the white stuff on a microscope slide. It melted like plastic (burning my fingers in the process). The white stuff also disolved nicely in acetone.

Drivel: Besides the Mercedes fuel pump, todays repairs were a Bernzomatic trigger start propane torch (cold flow PTFE igniter wire), an iPhone 4 with a non-functional standby push button (I gave up), yet another HP LaserJet 4250 printer with sticky relays (replace felt pad), and helped mount the landlords bicycle rack on his SUV. Sometimes, I wonder what business I'm in.

The nutdriver is yellow!!

And so I gather will the nut driver handle.

Yes, you certainly deal with a wide range of stuff. What business ARE you in? :-)

For a while my home phone was broken and my cell phone was lost (in the house) and I was using Skype to call out.

I didn't sign up for a Skype phone number yet, however. If someone calls when I'm not there, can the caller leave a message, or at least his phone number??

Is this a problem? In my drawer of rarely used nut drivers, blue is also affected.

That's a tough question to answer. Basically, I separate my customers from their money by providing a wide variety of services. It usually involves some form of electronics, but also includes oddities such as sewing machine repair. It is not unusual for me to repair appliances after fixing their computers. As one business wanes (I was once in the calculator repair biz), I expand into adjacent businesses. I find it helpful, but not necessary, to know what I'm doing.

Many cellular vendors allow you to activate a new phone, on an existing number, via their web page, or via the phone. For example, with Verizon, you dial *228. Buy a spare qualifying Verizon phone on eBay for a few dollars and throw the spare where you can find it (i.e. your vehicle). When you lose your phone, just activate the spare until you find it. Also, make sure that the spare phone you purchase is "clean".

No. Incoming calls from the PSTN cannot be received without a Skype account that includes an incoming phone number. Without a phone number, there's no way for anyone to dial your computer from a POTS phone. What I've done is purchase a minimal account for a few dollars, and use it only for emergencies. I've had about $15 on my account for several years, with no monthly charges.

Similarly, Skype also charges for voicemail storage. However, if the incoming caller uses Skype to originate the call, the PSTN is not involved and your Skype client will show that you've received a call from some person. The catch is that if you allow anyone to call your Skype account, you open the flood gates to getting spammed and solicited at your account. I have mine set to only allow calls from people in my Skype address book.

That's pretty obvious to those that follow you here.

About three years ago you retired, but like a character in an M. Knight Shamalan movie, you refuse to notice.

:-)

Geoff.

Well, the standard answer is that I'm in business to do business. When about 30% of my gross income is tangled up with taxes and 50% in overhead, the business end of the repair biz is far more important than the individual repair jobs.

Many years ago, when I was still pretending to listen to advice, I was warned against over specialization. 40+ years later, I've noticed that my classmates, that entered into overly specialized areas, have either priced themselves out of the market, have had their specialty simply disappear, or have been outsourced into oblivion. I'm not suggesting that one should try to learn anything and everything, just not to become overly dependent on one particular skill. Were I still an RF engineer, designing various radios, I would either be simultaneously doing 3 peoples jobs for a tolerable pay, or standing in the unemployment line awaiting my government entitlement.

Not quite. I retired in 1983, but didn't know it. I had just been laid off from an engineering position and decided that engineering management and my abrasive personality were mutually exclusive. Since then, I've experimented with numerous businesses and professions, with the usual wide variations in success. Unfortunately, I'm getting sufficient old and tired that such changes and product ideas are not going to work well in the future.

There comes a time in a mans life where he becomes so intolerant of being in the employ of actinic sphincters that the he fears life in prison for stomping the asshole until he quits twitching. I've had to hide my crowbars whenever some of them got around me so I decided the risk was too great and abandoned the corporate world for a life of independent contracting. ^_^

TDD

Sorry, but I was somewhat ambiguous. My phrase "that engineering management and my abrasive personality were mutually exclusive" refers to me, not corporate management. At the time, I had been functioning simultaneously as both an engineer and a manager. I soon realized that I had to choose one or the other. Since my personality tends to piss off everyone within range, I chose engineer, where prickly personalities are common. In effect, I refused promotion, which was at the time considered a capital crime. When the economy took a dive, and the first round of layoffs occurred, I was one of the first to be laid off.

I did the independent contractor, consultant, and hired gun thing for a while, but didn't like all the travel that was required. I also seemed to find situations and products that were beyond redemption or salvage. In several cases, I was setup for a failure, and then dutifully blamed when I failed. I had made a pile of money on stock options and speculation, so I was able to loaf while I decided what to do next.

I floundered around between 1983 and mid 1986, continuing to do consulting but also building up the repair biz. I was about to setup a local consultants exchange, when my father settled the issue by having a severe stroke. I found myself running his lingerie manufacturing business for several years until it could be sold and commuting back and forth between Santa Cruz and Smog Angeles approximately twice per month. I don't want to get into details here. Incidentally, I am still on good terms with all of my former employers. I had plenty of disagreements with them, but none of them were ever allowed to become personal. It was quite common to engage in heated technical arguments with them, followed by a calm lunch discussion over politics, sports, or other non-work related interests. After lunch, the arguments would resume.

I find it odd that you would pass judgment on your employers. It's not nice to bite the hand that feeds you. I have worked for crooks, liars, politicians, and marginal incompetents. I have been on good relations with all of them. If you cannot get along with even your worst enemy for the achievement of a common goal, you're doing something wrong. Even the worst employer can be trained.

You were only six when you did that. ;-)

That's when I was remanded to the Catholic Parochial Gulag back in the

TDD

Was "actinic" the word you wanted? If you meant "flaming"... It's not really a synonym.

That's odd, because your postings are almost always good-humored.

Your point is well-taken, but there are certain people one would not like to work to, simply because we dislike them as human beings. I'm thinking particularly of a certain person on "Gold Rush".