On Mon, 19 Apr 2010 18:09:53 -0400, Bob Engelhardt
wrote:

Steve B wrote:
... I have found more than one small item that went
flying, and I had very little confidence in finding one of them. It's kinda
like fishing.

Yeah, "kinda like fishing" in that sometimes you catchem & sometimes you
don't. I lost a small part once that I desperately needed - ran a
magnet over every square inch of the shop floor (on my hands & knees) &
didn't find it. Someone here once posted that really small parts
sometimes get into a quantum mechanical state where they tunnel to a
small town in Kansas. I believe it.

Bob

"As physicists now know, there is some nonzero probability that any
object will, through quantum effects, tunnel from the workbench in your
shop to Floyds Knobs, Indiana (unless your shop is already in Indiana,
in which case the object will tunnel to Trotters, North Dakota).

The smaller mass of the object, the higher the probability.
Therefore, disassembled parts, particularly small ones,
of machines disappear much faster than assembled machines."
Greg Dermer: rec.crafts.metalworking

"First Law of Leftist Debate
The more you present a leftist with factual evidence
that is counter to his preconceived world view and the
more difficult it becomes for him to refute it without
losing face the chance of him calling you a racist, bigot,
homophobe approaches infinity.

This is despite the thread you are in having not mentioned
race or sexual preference in any way that is relevant to
the subject." Grey Ghost