I gave Dimmer his name when I found that he'd wired a ceiling fan into a
dimmer switch, probably intending to control the integral light fixture
that way. Now, your average semi-literate English-speaking moron should
be able to read the safety warning on the packaging of your typical dimmer
switch. One of the things it says is something to the effect of "do not use
to control electric motors." (It's very hard on the motor, and a pretty
good fire hazard.)
I've never actually met Dimmer, just talked to him on the phone. However,
I can offer some things to justify the name I've provided for him:
- His home-maintenance motto is apparently "any screw that fits." (One
priceless example is my ceiling fan, which has three different styles and threads of screw holding the cheesy light fixture to it. Another is any random
switchplate -- pan-head, oval-head, what's the difference?)
-
He seems to have been into reloading -- and did it in the garage. (This house has gas heat and a gas water heater.) Also, so far I've found a dozen live
primers while sweeping the garage floor -- somebody must've
dropped a boxfull. (For the uninitiated, I'm talking about reloading cartridges here -- and note
that I said "cartridges"; cartridges go into one end of a firearm, bullets
come out the other.) Playing with nitro powder (or black powder, for that matter)
near an open flame is not
a real bright thing to do. Can you say "bang?" As for the primers, those are the things that go in the back of rifle or pistol cartridges and shotgun shells.
When you pull the trigger the firing pin strikes them, causing the fulminating
powder inside to ignite, thus igniting the nitro powder in the cartridge and
making the gun go "bang." It would really be quite a hoot to pull your car
into the garage and run over one... .
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