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The electric fence stopped working years ago

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Re: The electric fence stopped working years ago

#51

Post by tantalor »

blindriver wrote: post #26
tantalor wrote: post #9

This is called "learned helplessness" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learned_helplessness

No. Learned helplessness is entirely different. A dog learning not to go past the porch because it will get shocked is "conditioning". Learned helplessness is when a subject won't bother saving themselves from pain because they don't think it will make a difference. For example, if a dog is constantly being electrically shocked, but won't leave the area that is electrified because they think they will get electrified…

Good point!

Re: The electric fence stopped working years ago

#52

Post by fnord77 »

blindriver wrote: post #23

I never had this fake sense of shame or embarrassment when it came to contacting people. Some people will keep tabs on when someone last contacted them, and hold it against them. I don't. Just last month I had lunch with middle school friends I hadn't seen in 40 years. I literally hadn't seen once since Grade 8. I friended them on Facebook years previous but didn't really have anything to chat about, but when I was i…

> I never had this fake sense of shame or embarrassment

It's not fake. Just because you don't experience it doesn't mean it isn't real

Re: The electric fence stopped working years ago

#53

Post by stroz »

red_phone wrote: post #32
lordnacho wrote: post #8

This is right. People ask my how on earth I know what every one of my high school classmates is up to, when we were the last class of the millennium. Along with a number of old teachers and other randoms from years ago. I just stopped having a filter. When I think of someone, I just fire off a message. The message doesn't have any warnings on it like "oh I know it's been a while" or "you might not remember me". I wri…

One of the best comments I’ve read on HN in quite a while. Good advice for us all.

Agreed, there’s so much wisdom captured so simply in this comment. I’m still thinking about it.

Re: The electric fence stopped working years ago

#54

Post by logifail »

lordnacho wrote: post #8

This is right. People ask my how on earth I know what every one of my high school classmates is up to, when we were the last class of the millennium. Along with a number of old teachers and other randoms from years ago. I just stopped having a filter. When I think of someone, I just fire off a message. The message doesn't have any warnings on it like "oh I know it's been a while" or "you might not remember me". I wri…

> I just stopped having a filter. When I think of someone, I just fire off a message

This.

I'm spending the week in my hometown with my 9-year old daughter to give her the chance of some time with her grandparents. We live hundreds of miles (and several countries) away.

While walking along I mentioned to her that an old college friend of mine also lived in this town along with her husband and their daughter.

For perspective: way back then we shared a house, during that time we both ground through our PhDs in parallel, later she and her husband came to our wedding, we went to their wedding, all that stuff.

I explained to my daughter that we've not been in touch for the best part of 20 years and I was a bit sad about that.

my daughter: "did you have a fight?"

me: "no! of course not! why do you ask?"

my daughter: "maybe you should just write to her"

Re: The electric fence stopped working years ago

#55

Post by parineum »

stroz wrote: post #47
Verdex wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've got some sort of facial blindness. It's hard to tell exactly how it works because I've got a bunch of unconscious coping mechanisms for identifying people. One of the times I got it comically wrong was in college where I made a friend for a semester because I thought he was someone I already knew. So I can absolutely believe that attitude and approach makes a huge difference because I've been in at least one sce…

Wow, this is incredible. You just proved that connection is 90% attitude, 10% history. You became friends because you acted like friends. Sometimes not knowing the "rules" is the superpower.

Or they would have been friends anyway and it was just a coincidence.

Re: The electric fence stopped working years ago

#56

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

stroz wrote: post #47
Verdex wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've got some sort of facial blindness. It's hard to tell exactly how it works because I've got a bunch of unconscious coping mechanisms for identifying people. One of the times I got it comically wrong was in college where I made a friend for a semester because I thought he was someone I already knew. So I can absolutely believe that attitude and approach makes a huge difference because I've been in at least one sce…

Wow, this is incredible. You just proved that connection is 90% attitude, 10% history. You became friends because you acted like friends. Sometimes not knowing the "rules" is the superpower.

That's the secret with kids.

The "rules" don't really start, until we get older.

I grew up overseas (from where I am now -for some of you, it's probably home).

Most of my playmates were drastically different from me.

Re: The electric fence stopped working years ago

#57

Post by DonHopkins »

potato3732842 wrote: post #7
PaulHoule wrote: post #6

For horses, the electric fence is a psychological barrier. You understand the shock doesn't do real tissue damage, but they don't. [1] If they value freedom and learn that you can crash through the fence and feel just a moment of pain they will crash through the fence. [1] I did find out though, that the fence really hurt a lot more when I was standing in a puddle with cracked rubber boots. I imagine it hurts more if…

It does. That's a standard "party trick". You make people see how little the fence hurts and then you make everyone hold hands and the last person touches the fence and it hurts the people closer to the fence way worse

Reach out to an old friend while holding onto an electric fence!

Re: The electric fence stopped working years ago

#58

Post by voakbasda »

mauvehaus wrote: post #18
PaulHoule wrote: post #6

For horses, the electric fence is a psychological barrier. You understand the shock doesn't do real tissue damage, but they don't. [1] If they value freedom and learn that you can crash through the fence and feel just a moment of pain they will crash through the fence. [1] I did find out though, that the fence really hurt a lot more when I was standing in a puddle with cracked rubber boots. I imagine it hurts more if…

For bears, the advice we got from Fish and Wildlife was to bait the fence with aluminum foil smeared with bacon grease. That gets the bear to touch it with their sensitive nose. If they brush up against it with their thick fur, they won't notice. A good zap on the nose will teach them. I can confirm your note about footwear mattering. I'm way too cheap (read: stupid) to buy an electric fence tester, so I just touch t…

My electric fence supposedly covers hundreds of miles and feels like being hit with a baseball bat. It has brought people to tears on multiple occasions. Having gotten hit a few times, I genuinely am surprised that it does not leave a visible scorch mark.

I feel bad for animals that haven’t learned about it, but anything less has proven to be insufficient for certain animals.

Re: The electric fence stopped working years ago

#59

Post by DonHopkins »

I got a used 1950's era Erector Set from a garage sale as a kid, which had diabolical plans for building the "ERECTOR ELECTRIC THRILLER", that used the un-plugged-in AC electric motor's coil with flashlight batteries and a crank that turned a gear to break the contact and zap pulses of electricity to the handles.

Of course I built it and attached the handle to the inside door knob of my room, then tricked my brother into holding one handle then grabbing the outside doorknob, then I turned the crank, to condition him to stay out of my room!

I found the instructions on page 51 here:

https://www.constructiontoys.it/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/E...

INSTRUCTIONS FOR BUILDING THE ERECTOR ELECTRIC THRILLER

This amazing little device will provide lots of fun for yourself and many thrills for your friends. This thriiler is actually a device for giving your friends a slight shock. It is absolutely harmless in every respect.

OPERATION OF MODEL

If someone holds the handles, one in each hand, and you crank, they will get a thrilling shock. This happens because the three-volt circuit from the flashlight cells passes through the motor coils to magnetize the iron in the motor. As the crank is turned, the gear leaves the contact spring, the current flow through the coils is stopped, and the magnetism in the iron suddenly breaks down, generating a high voltage in the opposite direction to that of the battery. As the battery circuit is momentarily broken, this current cannot flow through the batteries, so it flows through the handles and then through the person holding the handles. The intensity of the shock may be changed by turning the crank fast or slow.

Here are two suggestions for having fun with your Erector Electric Thriller. Have a group of boys and girls form a circle, holding hands. Each person at the end of the circle should hold one handle of the Thriller. When the crank is turned, the current will pass through everyone, but with a lower intensity. Another trick you can have a lot of fun with is to place a tin pan of water on one of the handles or connect it to one of the handles and place a coin in this tin pan of water. Have a person hold one handle and, with the other hand, try to pick the coin out of the water while you turn the crank.

Edit: OMFG I found the plans for my very first robot on page 89, "The Mysterious Walking Robot Model", with tank tread feet, motorized walk, and glowing lightbulb eyes!

https://www.constructiontoys.it/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/E...

Re: The electric fence stopped working years ago

#60

Post by d4mi3n »

lordnacho wrote: post #8

This is right. People ask my how on earth I know what every one of my high school classmates is up to, when we were the last class of the millennium. Along with a number of old teachers and other randoms from years ago. I just stopped having a filter. When I think of someone, I just fire off a message. The message doesn't have any warnings on it like "oh I know it's been a while" or "you might not remember me". I wri…

Can recommend this. I have terrible memory so I make it a point to reach out and text (or even sometimes call, if it's a special occasion!) whenever people come to mind.

It can mean the world to people sometime. If you've ever had anybody making your day or week by just reaching out, remember that you can be that person too!

It's so easy for people to drift apart. Many people in my parent's generation didn't do a great job keeping in touch with folks and end up lonely or isolated. Avoiding that is as simple as taking a moment to let someone know you were thinking of them.

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