On Thu, 22 Dec 2011 04:49:17 -0500, "Robert Green"
wrote:

wrote in message
.. .

stuff snipped

You need to flex those old ords and listen for "rusling" ir sounds
like moving something in sand. If you hear that, DON"T PLUG IT IN. If
it is quiet and flexible it SHOULD be OK. It LIKELY has a knot tied in
it inside the base of the house as a strain relief (was common
practice in the fifties / sixties)

Good point. And not just any knot, but an Underwriter's knot:

http://electrical.about.com/od/wirin...writerknot.htm

Hmmm. I''ll have to study this. I spent a lot of time in high school
trying to tie one of these things, with a model right in front of me.
They never came out symmetric.