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VOLTS HURT, AMPS KILL

Excerpts from Rules of Thumb:

A Life Manual. By Tom Parker

A rule of thumb is a homespun recipe for making a guess. It’s an easy-to-remember guide that falls somewhere between a mathematical formula and a shot in the dark. The following rules of thumb are excerpted from MAKE contributor Tom Parker’s book Rules of Thumb: A Life Manual (2008, Workman Publishing).

» You can determine whether a ghost is real by crossing your eyes. If the image doubles, the ghost is there. If not, it’s all in your mind.

—Scott Parker, data specialist

» To avoid lunatics on city buses, sit in the middle. The friendly lunatics sit as close to the driver as they can, and the unfriendly ones sit as far away as they can.

—Keith Allan Hunter

» Use ammonia for a bee sting, vinegar for a wasp sting.

—Dr. Bill Grierson,

professor emeritus at the University of Florida

» Volts hurt, amps kill.

—Waldo Weyeris, engineer

» You get about half an hour of flight in a hot air balloon per 20-pound tank of propane fuel.

—Barbara Frederking, balloonist

» On a good road bicycle you can travel 50 miles per day at a leisurely pace.

—Alwyn T. Perrin, editor of Explorers Ltd. Source Book

» In most cases, a lithium battery will last as long as four alkaline batteries, and an alkaline battery will last as long as ten carbon-zinc batteries. —W. Price

» To roughly convert Celsius to
Fahrenheit, double the tempera-
ture and add 30. Thus 10°C is
50°F, and 20°C is 70°F.
—Stephen J. Lambrechts-Forester

» Snapshots encourage memo-
ries; videos replace them. After
watching a video of your vacation,
your memory of the vacation will
be what you saw on the video.
— Rulesofthumb.org Review Board

» Time goes by faster from the

» When you are planning a house, moment one starts paying one’s make the angle of the roof notice- own bills. ably more or noticeably less —Franklin Crawford, writer than a right angle; otherwise, the appearance lacks charm and is curiously depressing. In general, the steeper the roof, the more charm the house will have.

—Susan Pitkin, librarian

» If you haven’t made an important discovery in the field of mathematics by the time you’re 22, you probably never will.

—Gerald Gutlipp, mathematician

» The easiest way to quiet a
drunk is to whisper to him.
— Rulesofthumb.org Review Board

» If you think you saw a mouse,
you did.
— Rulesofthumb.org Review Board

» Drivers who customize their
cars with bumper stickers and
other adornments are more prone
to road rage than others.
— Rulesofthumb.org Review Board

» You have to wait about 30 minutes after cracking your knuckles to crack them again. That’s how long it takes for the vaporized joint fluid to go back into solution.

—Jim Crissman, veterinary pathologist

» If you can control the center of
a chessboard early, you control
the game.
— Rulesofthumb.org Review Board

» Don’t stand within 16 feet of the lion tunnel when the lions are entering or exiting the ring. They will pee on you.

—Todd Strong, circus school student

When Tom Parker ( parker@rulesofthumb.org) isn’t tinkering with junk, he’s flying a 1956 Cessna 180 bush plane.

146 Make: Volume 17