(no subject)

CMU people visiting: contact me if you've got my old Yahoo email address (still current). You can also write me as angelbob, at the domain monkeyspeak dot com. I'm hoping to find time to socialize or have dinner or something with those of you that know me, or at least some subset thereof. Port and sangria will be provided as additional optional inducements. :-)

(no subject)

Hrm. Any of you who know a bit about car or motorcycle batteries, this one's for you.

The drip-charger I've got makes several semi-apocalyptic claims about how bad batteries are and what they can do to you, and what safety measures are necessary. They don't, by and large, seem like more of an overreaction than I'd expect under the circumstances. But they claim that I need to attach at least an additional 24" of insulated battery cable between the negative battery terminal and the negative charger clip. They make no such claim for the positive terminal of the battery.

Is this just so you can stand farther from the battery when connecting the terminal, or is it really necessary? Anybody know?