I saw an interesting event on Jay Jeno last night: Memebrs of the five armed
services were trying to open a can of cranberry sauce using a Swiss army
knife. It was horrible. None of them seemed to have a clear idea how to use
the can opener attachment, in fact I am pretty sure some of them used the
wrong attachment. Four of them managed eventually at a cost of some injuries
and the cans were mangled. One failed to empty the can in the alloted time.

I wondered about the implications: Is this a reflection on general
population's unfamiliarity with a can opener? Is this a reflection on basic
training? Is it because the knife was *Swiss*? It cannot be because the
knife was *Army* as I believe it was the Army guy who failed. I hesitate to
cite stress affecting the performance of members of fighitng forces.

Would members of the Special Forces have done better? One of the guys made a
creditable effort to rip the can open with his bare hands but with a minimum
result. How would the US Armed forces stack up against, say, the Brits or
the Russians?

Is this something to be concerned about? Do I have too much time on my
hands?

--
Michael Koblic
Campbell River, BC

Michael Koblic wrote:
I saw an interesting event on Jay Jeno last night: Memebrs of the five armed
services were trying to open a can of cranberry sauce using a Swiss army
knife. It was horrible. None of them seemed to have a clear idea how to use
the can opener attachment, in fact I am pretty sure some of them used the
wrong attachment. Four of them managed eventually at a cost of some injuries
and the cans were mangled. One failed to empty the can in the alloted time.

I wondered about the implications: Is this a reflection on general
population's unfamiliarity with a can opener? Is this a reflection on basic
training? Is it because the knife was *Swiss*? It cannot be because the
knife was *Army* as I believe it was the Army guy who failed. I hesitate to
cite stress affecting the performance of members of fighitng forces.

Would members of the Special Forces have done better? One of the guys made a
creditable effort to rip the can open with his bare hands but with a minimum
result. How would the US Armed forces stack up against, say, the Brits or
the Russians?

Is this something to be concerned about? Do I have too much time on my
hands?

We all probably have too much time on our hands
so I'll let that slide.

Any pre-gulf war vet would have used a P-38 to
open his/her C-rations and would be able to
figure out the knife. I hope.

I was shocked to learn that some of my daugher's
high school friends were never allowed to use
kitchen knives.

I'm guessing that the whole concept of tool-using
is slowly bleeding out of a large portion of the
population. Cars neither need nor are easy to
repair. Most products are cheaper to throw away
than to fix. How many *hundreds* of old collected
sets of tools end up at the flea market, presumably
because their new owner had no use for them.

For example, most people used to at least have
a clue as to how a television works. I think
that if you asked most young people, you'd get
a one word answer, LED or LCL or plasma.

The military is having a hard time attracting
enough smart and educated recruits. This is not
meant to disparage our troops, but OTOH, there's
not a lot of kids going into the military to learn
a civilian trade any more.

Oh well, just means us old farts will have some
value in the next 20 or 30 years.

On Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:33:11 -0800, Jim Stewart
wrote:

The military is having a hard time attracting
enough smart and educated recruits. This is not
meant to disparage our troops, but OTOH, there's
not a lot of kids going into the military to learn
a civilian trade any more.
===============
Another factoid that is not widely known.

At one time the U.S. military was the worlds largest trade school
and many of the machinists, welders, riggers, electronics techs,
etc. that kept America running, learned their trade and got their
start in the trade there.

It should be noted that the draft was in effect at that time and
if you were male you either went to college or went in the
military. Either way you learned something.

On Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:33:11 -0800, the infamous Jim Stewart
scrawled the following:

Michael Koblic wrote:
I saw an interesting event on Jay Jeno last night: Memebrs of the five armed
services were trying to open a can of cranberry sauce using a Swiss army
knife. It was horrible. None of them seemed to have a clear idea how to use
the can opener attachment, in fact I am pretty sure some of them used the
wrong attachment. Four of them managed eventually at a cost of some injuries
and the cans were mangled. One failed to empty the can in the alloted time.

I wondered about the implications: Is this a reflection on general
population's unfamiliarity with a can opener? Is this a reflection on basic
training? Is it because the knife was *Swiss*? It cannot be because the
knife was *Army* as I believe it was the Army guy who failed. I hesitate to
cite stress affecting the performance of members of fighitng forces.

Would members of the Special Forces have done better? One of the guys made a
creditable effort to rip the can open with his bare hands but with a minimum
result. How would the US Armed forces stack up against, say, the Brits or
the Russians?

Is this something to be concerned about? Do I have too much time on my
hands?

We all probably have too much time on our hands
so I'll let that slide.

Any pre-gulf war vet would have used a P-38 to
open his/her C-rations and would be able to
figure out the knife. I hope.

I was shocked to learn that some of my daugher's
high school friends were never allowed to use
kitchen knives.

I'm guessing that the whole concept of tool-using
is slowly bleeding out of a large portion of the
population. Cars neither need nor are easy to
repair. Most products are cheaper to throw away
than to fix. How many *hundreds* of old collected
sets of tools end up at the flea market, presumably
because their new owner had no use for them.

Sad, isn't it?


For example, most people used to at least have
a clue as to how a television works. I think
that if you asked most young people, you'd get
a one word answer, LED or LCL or plasma.

I don't hang around young people, but it appears that curiosity is
missing from their lives. Maybe that's the price of today's
technology, making everything available at once. Nobody gets bored
enough to turn curious any more.


The military is having a hard time attracting
enough smart and educated recruits. This is not
meant to disparage our troops, but OTOH, there's
not a lot of kids going into the military to learn
a civilian trade any more.

Too many are referred from drug/alcohol rehab programs, jail, or
court. Scary, wot?


Oh well, just means us old farts will have some
value in the next 20 or 30 years.

Y'mean I just may make a _Living Wage_ sometime in my future?
Excellent!

--
Some days, it's not even worth chewing through the restraints.

Jim Stewart wrote:

For example, most people used to at least have
a clue as to how a television works. I think
that if you asked most young people, you'd get
a one word answer, LED or LCL or plasma.

Outside of a RF reciever, most televisions don't work the same as they did when I was a
kid.

They did go digital recently.

WEs
--
"Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect
government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home
in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller

On Nov 28, 5:54*pm, Wes wrote:

Outside of a RF reciever, most televisions don't work the same as they did when I was a
kid.

They did go digital recently.

Downconvert, digitize, the rest is software.

jsw

Jim Wilkins wrote:
On Nov 28, 5:54 pm, Wes wrote:

Outside of a RF reciever, most televisions don't work the same as
they did when I was a kid.

They did go digital recently.

Downconvert, digitize, the rest is software.

I'd be interested in hearing about that.
I've gone from 30 decent channels to six poor ones.


--
John R. Carroll

"John R. Carroll" wrote:

They did go digital recently.

Downconvert, digitize, the rest is software.

I'd be interested in hearing about that.
I've gone from 30 decent channels to six poor ones.


But think of all the spectrum the goverment was able to sell.

I thought this was only a problem in the flyover states.

Wes
--
"Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect
government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home
in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller

On Sat, 28 Nov 2009 15:50:40 -0800, "John R. Carroll"
wrote:

Jim Wilkins wrote:
On Nov 28, 5:54 pm, Wes wrote:

Outside of a RF reciever, most televisions don't work the same as
they did when I was a kid.

They did go digital recently.

Downconvert, digitize, the rest is software.

I'd be interested in hearing about that.
I've gone from 30 decent channels to six poor ones.
Is that a matter of content or signal quality?
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

On Nov 29, 10:50 am, "John R. Carroll" wrote:
Jim Wilkins wrote:
On Nov 28, 5:54 pm, Wes wrote:

Outside of a RF reciever, most televisions don't work the same as
they did when I was a kid.

They did go digital recently.

Downconvert, digitize, the rest is software.

I'd be interested in hearing about that.
I've gone from 30 decent channels to six poor ones.

--
John R. Carroll

Sorta correct - theres a large lot of electronics (digital) devoted to
getting the software decoded digital signal onto the screen, either
LCD or plasma. Has to map and address the screen in an X-Y plane -
most of this is build into the panel at manufacture, so replacement is
costly . With plasmas, its the high power/high voltage driver boards
that die, with LCD its the back light inverters....haven't had a
chance to pull one of the newer LED backlight panels to pieces yet....

The real issue with digital TV's is you cannot look at the screen and
get some idea of where the fault is, unlike analogue. They either
work, or they don't. No schematics available, fix by board
replacement. Totally uneconomic (except as a "interesting problem") to
reverse engineer to component level.

But thats true of most modern goods, except for Old Farts like us who
will spend a day machining a 10c part to fix a $20 machine....its not
economic, but we do it becaause it annoys the hell out of us that
"spare parts" is nowadays an oxymoron.

And back in the Old Days - why, I remember when I had to walk 10 miles
to school, barefoot, through the snow with nothing but a pointy stick
to protect myself from wolves. And this was after I had got up at 5am
to milk the cows and do my chores, breaking ice in the well to draw up
water for my mother. And if I hadn't taken a bundle of firewood with
me for the school heater, I was whipped and made to go out in a raging
blizzard and find some.....

And you tell the young people this, and they don't believe you.

Andrew VK3BFA.

Wes wrote:
Jim Stewart wrote:

For example, most people used to at least have
a clue as to how a television works. I think
that if you asked most young people, you'd get
a one word answer, LED or LCL or plasma.

Outside of a RF reciever, most televisions don't work the same as they did when I was a
kid.

They did go digital recently.

WEs
--
"Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect
government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home
in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller

So odd, timing wise, Wes...



Over soup and sandwich at Panera tonight, Dorothy asked me how TVs worked.

I started with a 1955 Philco black and white set and explained how the
horizontal and vertical saw-tooth signals moved the electron beam across
the screen, why the H and V sync signals were so important, and all that.
Even touched on the phase angle reference in color TV (VERY briefly).

She's a bright girl! She immediately said, "Yeah, but flat panel screens
don't work like that, do they".

So I explained to her how the flat screen has tiny computer circuits in it
that 1) monitor the incoming RGB (or whatever) signal and store it to screen
memory while 2) other little dedicated circuits copy from their portion of
screen memory to their little portion of the display screen.
Refresh rates versed flicker.

And all of that to maintain backwards compatibility to the original video
signal.



But my bottom line to the OP is simply thus: once software replaces
mechanical stuff, it's sufficiently advanced enough to qualify as magic.

And who can possibly understand that kind of Magic?
Some of us here do - but certainly not all of us.

Just buy it (cheap) and play with it until it breaks.

Very little of the consumer electronics products are actually repairable.
The problem that keeps if from working may just be a portion of one chip.
But cost to repair versed cost to replace?
It has to be pretty expensive stuff before it can be economically repaired.

On Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:33:11 -0800, Jim Stewart wrote:

The military is having a hard time attracting enough smart and educated
recruits. This is not meant to disparage our troops, but OTOH, there's
not a lot of kids going into the military to learn a civilian trade any
more.

The problem is exacerbated by the tendency of judges recently to offer
signing up for the military as an alternative to a prison sentence....

Hope This Helps!
Rich

"Michael Koblic" wrote in message
...
I saw an interesting event on Jay Jeno last night: Memebrs of the five
armed services were trying to open a can of cranberry sauce using a Swiss
army knife. It was horrible. None of them seemed to have a clear idea how
to use the can opener attachment, in fact I am pretty sure some of them
used the wrong attachment. Four of them managed eventually at a cost of
some injuries and the cans were mangled. One failed to empty the can in the
alloted time.

I wondered about the implications: Is this a reflection on general
population's unfamiliarity with a can opener? Is this a reflection on
basic training? Is it because the knife was *Swiss*? It cannot be because
the knife was *Army* as I believe it was the Army guy who failed. I
hesitate to cite stress affecting the performance of members of fighitng
forces.

Would members of the Special Forces have done better? One of the guys made
a creditable effort to rip the can open with his bare hands but with a
minimum result. How would the US Armed forces stack up against, say, the
Brits or the Russians?

Is this something to be concerned about? Do I have too much time on my
hands?

--
Michael Koblic
Campbell River, BC




i didn't see the video. i bet leno has lots of guys try it and only airs
the most embarrassing footage.
i imagined that's how he used to do his "jaywalking" segment, selectively
editing so that only the most apparently stoopid people aired.

b.w.

"Steve Ackman" wrote in message
rg...
In , on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 23:46:21
-0600, William Wixon, wrote:

i didn't see the video. i bet leno has lots of guys try it and only airs
the most embarrassing footage.

No, it was the Thanksgiving day show. The audience
was all military. One from each branch competed for
a car.



oh! LOL! that must've been damn funny to watch. wow. lol. jeez.

b.w.

On Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:06:25 -0800, the infamous "Michael Koblic"
scrawled the following:

I saw an interesting event on Jay Jeno last night: Memebrs of the five armed
services were trying to open a can of cranberry sauce using a Swiss army
knife. It was horrible. None of them seemed to have a clear idea how to use
the can opener attachment, in fact I am pretty sure some of them used the
wrong attachment. Four of them managed eventually at a cost of some injuries
and the cans were mangled. One failed to empty the can in the alloted time.

That's downright shameful. I hope it comes out later that Leno set
'em up or paid them to stumble. Any other scenario is just too scary.
I hope the Al Queda boys don't see that show. Talk about an esteem
builder for the enemy...


I wondered about the implications: Is this a reflection on general
population's unfamiliarity with a can opener? Is this a reflection on basic
training? Is it because the knife was *Swiss*? It cannot be because the
knife was *Army* as I believe it was the Army guy who failed. I hesitate to
cite stress affecting the performance of members of fighitng forces.

The question coming up in my mind: Is this entire current generation
totally clueless when it comes to mechanical things, and only good for
playing electronic games?


Would members of the Special Forces have done better?

If -all- of them couldn't do it in record time, I'd be extremely
surprised.


One of the guys made a
creditable effort to rip the can open with his bare hands but with a minimum
result. How would the US Armed forces stack up against, say, the Brits or
the Russians?

I'd hope both the Brits and Russians would do better than our sample
did, that's for certain.


Is this something to be concerned about? Do I have too much time on my
hands?

Yes, and absolutely. Next question!

--
Some days, it's not even worth chewing through the restraints.

On Nov 28, 4:33*pm, Larry Jaques
wrote:

I saw an interesting event on Jay Jeno last night: Memebrs of the five armed
services were trying to open a can of cranberry sauce using a Swiss army
knife. It was horrible. None of them seemed to have a clear idea how to use
the can opener attachment,

Were they all freshly minted Lieutenants?

A crusty old Sergeant would just order the can lid to ATTENTION!!!

(after I rigged it for him)

jsw

On Sat, 28 Nov 2009 13:58:40 -0800 (PST), the infamous Jim Wilkins
scrawled the following:

On Nov 28, 4:33*pm, Larry Jaques
wrote:

I saw an interesting event on Jay Jeno last night: Memebrs of the five armed
services were trying to open a can of cranberry sauce using a Swiss army
knife. It was horrible. None of them seemed to have a clear idea how to use
the can opener attachment,

Were they all freshly minted Lieutenants?

A crusty old Sergeant would just order the can lid to ATTENTION!!!

LOL!


(after I rigged it for him)

That's two today. I didn't write that text. The Doc done it!

--
Some days, it's not even worth chewing through the restraints.

On Nov 28, 6:44*pm, Steve Ackman
wrote:


* Yes. *In looking for a can to open to time myself,

27.9 seconds to free the bottom of an 18.8 Oz Campbells Chunky can
with a Chinese copy of the Swiss Soldier.
http://www.surplusandadventure.com/i...in/soldier.jpg
I'd already popped the top and emptied it so slivers don't matter.
Looks like a good idea to wash the can out, too.

jsw

On Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:44:59 -0700, the infamous Steve Ackman
scrawled the following:

In , on Sat, 28 Nov 2009
13:33:17 -0800, Larry Jaques, novalidaddress@di wrote:

I saw an interesting event on Jay Jeno last night: Memebrs of the five armed
services were trying to open a can of cranberry sauce using a Swiss army
knife. It was horrible. None of them seemed to have a clear idea how to use
the can opener attachment, in fact I am pretty sure some of them used the
wrong attachment. Four of them managed eventually at a cost of some injuries
and the cans were mangled. One failed to empty the can in the alloted time.

That's downright shameful. I hope it comes out later that Leno set
'em up or paid them to stumble. Any other scenario is just too scary.
I hope the Al Queda boys don't see that show. Talk about an esteem
builder for the enemy...

Nope. They were all trying their best to a) win a
car, and b) not disgrace their branch of the service.

They c) Blew it all the way around.


The question coming up in my mind: Is this entire current generation
totally clueless when it comes to mechanical things, and only good for
playing electronic games?

Yes. In looking for a can to open to time myself,
I found more than half the cans in the cupboard are
the "pop top" type that require no can opener at all.
Probably not too many guys still active duty who have
ever even seen a P-38 or C-ration. Seems to me that
MRE's came out sometime around '80...ish.

It would also appear that not one of them ever had a Cub Scout or Boy
Scout session, and none of them spent any time with their dads in the
shop or hardware store. That's truly sad.

--
Some days, it's not even worth chewing through the restraints.

On Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:27:57 -0700, Steve Ackman
wrote:

In , on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:06:25
-0800, Michael Koblic, wrote:
I saw an interesting event on Jay Jeno last night: Memebrs of the five armed
services were trying to open a can of cranberry sauce using a Swiss army
knife. It was horrible. None of them seemed to have a clear idea how to use
the can opener attachment, in fact I am pretty sure some of them used the
wrong attachment. Four of them managed eventually at a cost of some injuries
and the cans were mangled.

It was Air Force who cut himself. "Anything to win,"
was his quip. Incidentally, he WAS the one to win the
race and the car... though for those who didn't see it,
he didn't win the car for himself, but for a randomly
selected member of his branch.

One failed to empty the can in the alloted time.

That was the whole point. The last one to empty the
contents was eliminated from the competition. By
definition the slowest didn't finish in time.

I wondered about the implications: Is this a reflection on general
population's unfamiliarity with a can opener? Is this a reflection on basic
training? Is it because the knife was *Swiss*? It cannot be because the
knife was *Army* as I believe it was the Army guy who failed. I hesitate to
cite stress affecting the performance of members of fighitng forces.

It wasn't the Army guy who failed because he was in
the footrace against the Air Force guy. I *think* it
was the Navy guy who failed.

Would members of the Special Forces have done better? One of the guys made a
creditable effort to rip the can open with his bare hands but with a minimum
result.

The guy using "his bare hands" had already opened the
can about 5/8 of the way around. He was using his hands
to try to bend the lid up and out of the way so he could
empty the cranberry sauce onto the plate. He's one who
did NOT cut himself, strangely enough. Pretty sure he
was first, and Army.

Is this something to be concerned about?

Maybe.

Do I have too much time on my hands?

Probably.

I laughed with incredulity, but come to think of it,
none of these guys has ever seen a C-ration. Guess
there's no reason for them to know how to operate a
field can opener.
The thing that gets me is the "safety" side cut can opener in the
kitchen drawer. Why is it safer to have a sharp edge of the can
surrounding the contents you are digging at, rather than on the metal
disk you are tossing into the trash; this assumes that you don't make
a habit of licking the lids clean before you toss them.
To my mind, they advertise these because they are made to a lower
standard of accuracy than the old top cut opener.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

On Sun, 29 Nov 2009 02:13:15 -0500, Gerald Miller
wrote:


The thing that gets me is the "safety" side cut can opener in the
kitchen drawer. Why is it safer to have a sharp edge of the can
surrounding the contents you are digging at, rather than on the metal
disk you are tossing into the trash; this assumes that you don't make
a habit of licking the lids clean before you toss them.
To my mind, they advertise these because they are made to a lower
standard of accuracy than the old top cut opener.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada


The "safety cut" can openers I'm familiar with don't cut anything -
they uncrimp the can top so you just lift it off. They're hard to
find, but I like them better'n anything, including (especially?)
electric openers.

Joe

On Tue, 01 Dec 2009 09:26:39 -0500, Joe
wrote:

snip
The "safety cut" can openers I'm familiar with don't cut anything -
they uncrimp the can top so you just lift it off. They're hard to
find, but I like them better'n anything, including (especially?)
electric openers.

Joe

The one I have (safety cut) cuts. Didn't realize how the
cans were constructed until I got one.

They work pretty well on the pull-tops too, they really
annoy me. If you open them as intended it is hard to swab
out everything. I'm sure most people don't bother with
that...

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
Remove no.spam for email

"Leon Fisk" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 01 Dec 2009 09:26:39 -0500, Joe
wrote:

snip
The "safety cut" can openers I'm familiar with don't cut anything -
they uncrimp the can top so you just lift it off. They're hard to
find, but I like them better'n anything, including (especially?)
electric openers.

Joe

The one I have (safety cut) cuts. Didn't realize how the
cans were constructed until I got one.

They work pretty well on the pull-tops too, they really
annoy me. If you open them as intended it is hard to swab
out everything. I'm sure most people don't bother with
that...

--
Leon Fisk


me too. just recently got one of those fancy new expensive can openers
(wouldn't've got the fancy kind except the cheap ones i kept buying kept
breaking, was sick of buying cheap junk). i've always used a rubber spatula
to get every drop of soup/chili/etc. out of the can, and the ridge left from
the new pull top cans were kind of frustrating. with the new can opener
it's easy, leaves a smooth ridge-less edge. i just mention this to say,
leon, you're not the only one. i think it's from my grandfather having gone
through the depression, something like, he was abandoned and later adopted
by an abusive family, hard times, tough childhood.

b.w.

On Tue, 1 Dec 2009 17:41:59 -0600, "William Wixon"
wrote:

snip
me too. just recently got one of those fancy new expensive can openers
(wouldn't've got the fancy kind except the cheap ones i kept buying kept
breaking, was sick of buying cheap junk). i've always used a rubber spatula
to get every drop of soup/chili/etc. out of the can, and the ridge left from
the new pull top cans were kind of frustrating. with the new can opener
it's easy, leaves a smooth ridge-less edge. i just mention this to say,
leon, you're not the only one. i think it's from my grandfather having gone
through the depression, something like, he was abandoned and later adopted
by an abusive family, hard times, tough childhood.

b.w.

Both my Mom and Dad went through the depression, WWII
rationing and working for a living. Might be more of us
around than I think, but most of the people I've been privy
to observing don't bother...

What does it smell like? Does it look okay? Try tasting
it... seems to be a lost art nowadays. People only seem to
understand expiration dates anymore. Which I don't pay a
whole lot of attention to

For a good regular can opener look at/for "Swing-A-Way". You
need to have both the upper and lower wheels geared
together. Used to run around $8 for one. We have two, the
older one has been in use for ~30 years or more. Still works
fine, probably would be a bit easier to crank if I gave it a
good clean/lube job. Only had the safety cut for a couple
years, don't know how well it is going to hold up. Bought it
in hopes that it would work on the crummy pull-top cans,
which it does. Mom can't crank it though, turns too hard.
She can use the old Swing-A-Way just fine though.

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
Remove no.spam for email

On Tue, 01 Dec 2009 09:26:39 -0500, Joe wrote:

On Sun, 29 Nov 2009 02:13:15 -0500, Gerald Miller
wrote:


The thing that gets me is the "safety" side cut can opener in the
kitchen drawer. Why is it safer to have a sharp edge of the can
surrounding the contents you are digging at, rather than on the metal
disk you are tossing into the trash; this assumes that you don't make
a habit of licking the lids clean before you toss them.
To my mind, they advertise these because they are made to a lower
standard of accuracy than the old top cut opener.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada


The "safety cut" can openers I'm familiar with don't cut anything -
they uncrimp the can top so you just lift it off. They're hard to
find, but I like them better'n anything, including (especially?)
electric openers.

Joe
The ones I'm bitching about take the rolled rim plus the disk off,
leaving a sharp edge on the side of the can; hyper-advertised as being
safer than the one that cuts out a sharp edged disk out, leaving the
rolled edge still attached to the side of the can.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

On Dec 1, 6:27*pm, Gerald Miller wrote:
On Tue, 01 Dec 2009 09:26:39 -0500, Joe wrote:
On Sun, 29 Nov 2009 02:13:15 -0500, Gerald Miller
wrote:

The thing that gets me is the "safety" side cut can opener in the
kitchen drawer. Why is it safer to have a sharp edge of the can
surrounding the contents you are digging at, rather than on the metal
disk you are tossing into the trash; this assumes that you don't make
a habit of licking the lids clean before you toss them.
To my mind, they advertise these because they are made to a lower
standard of accuracy than the old top cut opener.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

The "safety cut" can openers I'm familiar with don't cut anything -
they uncrimp the can top so you just lift it off. They're hard to
find, but I like them better'n anything, including (especially?)
electric openers.

Joe

The ones I'm bitching about take the rolled rim plus the disk off,
leaving a sharp edge on the side of the can; hyper-advertised as being
safer than the one that cuts out a sharp edged disk out, leaving the
rolled edge still attached to the side of the can.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Those are the chinese copies of the real thing. There's a patent
involved, so I think the cheapies either cut below the crimp as an
evasion and rely on the poor sucker who bought it, thinking he had the
real thing, not squawking, or it's just terrible QC. The real deal
will neatly cut through the crimp about midway, leaving smooth edges
on both pieces and the lid can be replaced. They also cost 4-5x as
much as the cheapies, probably due to royalties. Somebody clever
could take a cheapie, make a shim to space the cutter up farther on
the crimp and save a few bucks. The shim would have to probably be on
the side of the pinch wheel next to the lid. Just wish the real ones
would last as long as a Swing-away, the hand operated one had the
crank knob bust after about a year of cat food duty.

Stan

On Sat, 5 Dec 2009 15:09:56 -0800 (PST), wrote:

On Dec 1, 6:27*pm, Gerald Miller wrote:
On Tue, 01 Dec 2009 09:26:39 -0500, Joe wrote:
On Sun, 29 Nov 2009 02:13:15 -0500, Gerald Miller
wrote:

The thing that gets me is the "safety" side cut can opener in the
kitchen drawer. Why is it safer to have a sharp edge of the can
surrounding the contents you are digging at, rather than on the metal
disk you are tossing into the trash; this assumes that you don't make
a habit of licking the lids clean before you toss them.
To my mind, they advertise these because they are made to a lower
standard of accuracy than the old top cut opener.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

The "safety cut" can openers I'm familiar with don't cut anything -
they uncrimp the can top so you just lift it off. They're hard to
find, but I like them better'n anything, including (especially?)
electric openers.

Joe

The ones I'm bitching about take the rolled rim plus the disk off,
leaving a sharp edge on the side of the can; hyper-advertised as being
safer than the one that cuts out a sharp edged disk out, leaving the
rolled edge still attached to the side of the can.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Those are the chinese copies of the real thing. There's a patent
involved, so I think the cheapies either cut below the crimp as an
evasion and rely on the poor sucker who bought it, thinking he had the
real thing, not squawking, or it's just terrible QC. The real deal
will neatly cut through the crimp about midway, leaving smooth edges
on both pieces and the lid can be replaced. They also cost 4-5x as
much as the cheapies, probably due to royalties. Somebody clever
could take a cheapie, make a shim to space the cutter up farther on
the crimp and save a few bucks. The shim would have to probably be on
the side of the pinch wheel next to the lid. Just wish the real ones
would last as long as a Swing-away, the hand operated one had the
crank knob bust after about a year of cat food duty.

Stan

I'll have to take a closer look at mine - I don't remember seeing a
blade at all. I think it really just uncrimps the lid, sort of the
reverse of how the can is sealed in the cannery. I used to work in a
vegetable cannery fixing the electronic aspects of their equipment,
but I never paid much attention to how the sealers worked. I was too
busy with the mag detector that rejected the poorly sealed cans (and
way too many good cans, which is why I was busy with them - late 70s).

Joe

On Nov 29, 2:13*am, Gerald Miller wrote:
On Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:27:57 -0700, Steve Ackman



wrote:
In , on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:06:25
-0800, Michael Koblic, wrote:
I saw an interesting event on Jay Jeno last night: Memebrs of the five armed
services were trying to open a can of cranberry sauce using a Swiss army
knife. It was horrible. None of them seemed to have a clear idea how to use
the can opener attachment, in fact I am pretty sure some of them used the
wrong attachment. Four of them managed eventually at a cost of some injuries
and the cans were mangled.

*It was Air Force who cut himself. *"Anything to win,"
was his quip. *Incidentally, he WAS the one to win the
race and the car... though for those who didn't see it,
he didn't win the car for himself, but for a randomly
selected member of his branch.

One failed to empty the can in the alloted time.

*That was the whole point. *The last one to empty the
contents was eliminated from the competition. *By
definition the slowest didn't finish in time.

I wondered about the implications: Is this a reflection on general
population's unfamiliarity with a can opener? Is this a reflection on basic
training? Is it because the knife was *Swiss*? It cannot be because the
knife was *Army* as I believe it was the Army guy who failed. I hesitate to
cite stress affecting the performance of members of fighitng forces.

*It wasn't the Army guy who failed because he was in
the footrace against the Air Force guy. *I *think* it
was the Navy guy who failed.

Would members of the Special Forces have done better? One of the guys made a
creditable effort to rip the can open with his bare hands but with a minimum
result.

*The guy using "his bare hands" had already opened the
can about 5/8 of the way around. *He was using his hands
to try to bend the lid up and out of the way so he could
empty the cranberry sauce onto the plate. *He's one who
did NOT cut himself, strangely enough. *Pretty sure he
was first, and Army.

Is this something to be concerned about?

*Maybe.

Do I have too much time on my *hands?

*Probably.

*I laughed with incredulity, but come to think of it,
none of these guys has ever seen a C-ration. *Guess
there's no reason for them to know how to operate a
field can opener.

The thing that gets me is the "safety" side cut can opener in the
kitchen drawer. Why is it safer to have a sharp edge of the can
surrounding the contents you are digging at, rather than on the metal
disk you are tossing into the trash; this assumes that you don't make
a habit of licking the lids clean before you toss them.
To my mind, they advertise these because they are made to a lower
standard of accuracy than the old top cut opener.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

I guess you've never actually used one of these. The "safety opener"
cuts through the crimp, leaving a rounded edge on the can *AND* on the
lid. I have two, one manual and one electric.

On Tue, 1 Dec 2009 11:18:15 -0800 (PST), rangerssuck
wrote:



I guess you've never actually used one of these. The "safety opener"
cuts through the crimp, leaving a rounded edge on the can *AND* on the
lid. I have two, one manual and one electric.
The one I'm bitching about cuts below the crimp leaving a sharp egged
on the can. They are trying to take advantage of the one you mention
which semi seals the can when you replace the lid.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

On Dec 1, 8:36*pm, Gerald Miller wrote:
On Tue, 1 Dec 2009 11:18:15 -0800 (PST), rangerssuck

wrote:

I guess you've never actually used one of these. The "safety opener"
cuts through the crimp, leaving a rounded edge on the can *AND* on the
lid. I have two, one manual and one electric.

The one I'm bitching about cuts below the crimp leaving a sharp egged
on the can. They are trying to take advantage of the one you mention
which semi seals the can when you replace the lid.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

I never saw one like that. Yes, that would be just stupid.

OTOH, I used a P38 a couple of weeks ago to open a #10 can of beans.
My wrist and fingers were screaming after that ordeal. Said P38 came
from my Dad's WWII dog tags. It's lived on my keychain for over 40
years.