"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 21 Sep 2007 00:18:31 -0400, with neither quill nor qualm, "Ed
Huntress" quickly quoth:


"Martin H. Eastburn" wrote in message
...
In the landfill that was sealed where I used to live - they generated
enough gas to heat the HS pool all year long and some other park stuff.
Some places in the East I'm told are mining theirs. Rich in metals of
all
sorts and naturally glass.
Martin

In WWII my dad was sent first to radio school at the Navy's facilities in
Washington. They fueled their bunsen burners (among other things) with the
sewer gas from a nearby sewer field. Dad said it worked fine as long as
the
flame didn't go out.

1:1 odds that some smartalec in the class deflamed it at least once a
week, eh? Ewwwwwwwww! Was anyone smart (dumb) enough to attempt
sending a flame back into the system?

I think I last heard those stories around 50 years ago, so I don't remember
the details. I do remember that he was speaking from experience -- the
flames did go out from time to time. He said the pressure was low and
unreliable, for one thing.

He was concentrating on getting his code speed up to 26 wpm so he could get
shipboard duty, but he only got to 25 because he couldn't type and that was
as fast as he could print. So he (a Marine) wound up instead directing fire
from naval guns into the Japanese lines on Guadalcanal, from 100 yards in
front of them.

There's a good argument for learning to type, eh?

--
Ed Huntress