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Have you ever used "conductive grease"? I have and here's some of what I've observed.
Years ago I got some MG Chemicals carbon conductive grease for automotive and shop use.
* It worked great on '70s car electrical connections like batteries. Other connections like alternators and fuel pumps were not sealed and corroded quicky in New England winters. A little conductive grease would keep things working well.
* Also in the '70s, back in the days of C-cells, even the best alkaline batteries would leak when discharged fully. After cleaning the corroded battery contacts as well as I could with sandpaper or wire brushes some conductive grease would help get the appliance going again reliably.
* Normally crummy wiring and connections for phones and stereos were all improved with the grease.
* Be careful with carbon grease if you are wearing good clothes. The smallest smears of this stuff will ruin nice shirts and pants in no time.
Then I moved up to "fixing" a burner on my '60s electric range. One of the rear burners on my stove over time had been subjected to repeated boil-overs, among other indignities, and eventually stopped working. I decided to apply conductive grease to the corroded pads on the burner coil where it connected to the range receptacle.
After energizing the greased connection everything happened "in a flash", so to speak. A few seconds after powering the burner on the receptacle contacts heated up and the grease started to smoke. This led to a conductive grease vapor that produced a short circuit in the receptacle. ZZZZZTTT-POW!! The 220v arc lit the room like a flashbulb.
I doubt that the event emitted any X-rays but the light, sound, and smell were pretty impressive.
Afterwards one of the burner coil resistive wire leads was gone. Vaporized. Melted blobs of metal were spattered all around near the receptacle connector.
Surprisingly, the 50 amp main circuit breaker never tripped. It was a really quick over-current event.
From a few rooms away my SO asks, "What the heck was THAT?" I replied, "No worries!" as I was still digesting what had happened and shaking a little bit.
After that I didn't use conductive grease for anything for 20+ years.
Dang! My '58 Renault Dauphine has another flat tire.
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Interesting. My dad was an auto mechanic for 41 years before he retired, and while I know he's used all sorts of grease products, I don't recall ever hearing him mention anything about conductivity being a property of any sort of grease he used.
I know he's always very careful when changing a car battery to ensure the posts are clean, then might use some grease just to ensure the cables can still be easily removed years down the road, but that never has anything to do with conductivity. It sounds to me like if you have to use "conductive grease" to save you from bad contacts, then you're not really solving the underlying problem the right way.
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I had a co-worker tell me about screaming into the phone when his dad told him he was going to put some WD-40 on the computers hard drive. Because everyone knows that just a little helps everything.
MrChug wrote: This led to a conductive grease vapor that produced a short circuit in the receptacle
Vapor? I would suspect more that there was some slop on the surfaces. Perhaps it squeezed out when putting it back.
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I always use non-conductive grease on car battery terminals to help slow corrosion. Blocks the oxygen from reaching the metal.
I can see where the smallest dab of conductive grease could help with battery corrosion in the terminals.
I am wondering if it would be worth it to wrap entire batteries with electrical tape for corrosive leakage? I have a few batteries that always leak when they go bad. For example, the 9V rechargeable in my lawn sprinkler control.
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englebart wrote: I am wondering if it would be worth it to wrap entire batteries with electrical tape for corrosive leakage
Interesting idea.
Would it still eat through that? Depends on acid and type of tape.
Would it still fit? Certainly with some of my stuff with batteries just squeezing the battery in is difficult. Even if I managed to push it in the process might scrap the tape off.
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below is a link to a video of Clifford Stoll himself telling the story of the Cuckoo's Egg . it is amazing it was never made into a film .
MSN[^]
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Despite the descriptions about how exciting it is I doubt this would work as a visual (tv/movie) event.
And it doesn't have any car chases or dragons so certainly that doesn't help.
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i don't recall any car chases in "The Imitation Game" . should i wake up a Hollywood Film Maker i will be sure to add it to my list of Films i would like to see made .
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BernardIE5317 wrote: i don't recall any car chases in "The Imitation Game"
Not the same thing however. More comparable to a movie showing Turing working through the proof of the halting problem. The proof is very interesting but attempting to dramatize it is just not going to work.
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Should call it Coo Coo's Egg
As the aircraft designer said, "Simplicate and add lightness".
PartsBin an Electronics Part Organizer - Release Version 1.3.0 JaxCoder.com
Latest Article: SimpleWizardUpdate
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That was a nice break! 
FWIW, it was pretty ingenious to intercept/debug the incoming traffic with teletypes. 
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
"Hope is contagious"
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There is a 'Doc U Drama' for it on YouTube (as always cuts out some of the best bits and compresses time).
It's one of those slow boil things that I don't think would be a film (as said no car chases/blonds). The book takes over a year and is more in depth than the 'Doc U Drama'....
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I remember reading the book, and rolling my eyes because apparently everybody just kept everything wide open back then, and never thought the story was particularly compelling because of that. A story with a bad premise can only result in a bad story.
And I agree with others, hacker movies aren't particularly appealing because you can't really accurately convey what's going on, and those who try end up relying on some dumb visuals.
My opinion anyway.
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i see it not as a hacker story but as a detective story .
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The more I think about it, the more I think a detective story in this context makes it a hacker story...no?
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quite so as the investigation reveals the methods of the hacker . just as an investigation by Sherlock Holmes reveals the methods of Dr. Moriarty . it is nice to see a great mind at work . Clifford Stoll had a problem to solve . i quite enjoy seeing how people solve their problems in stories . are we discussing mere nomenclature ? "i say potato" .
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Wordle 913 4/6*
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In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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Just missing some symmetry
Happiness will never come to those who fail to appreciate what they already have. -Anon
And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music. -Frederick Nietzsche
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Wordle 913 4/6
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Ok, I have had my coffee, so you can all come out now!
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βThat which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.β
β Christopher Hitchens
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