How to remove the blockers so I can use banana plugs?
- Thread starter FauxHall
- Start date
This reminds me of the stupid gas can laws in the US that mandates that gas spouts on cans have a spring loaded check valve that has to be manually operated to pour out the gas. It's supposed to keep gas vapors from leaking into the air. They are so frustrating to use and I gave up on them after dousing my mower with gasoline multiple times. Now I just unscrew the spout and use a funnel, of course when I'm in a hurry, gas always sloshes all over the place.
So what was this law intended for? Everyone I know uses a funnel today. California enacted this law and for some reason it became nation wide. There is absolutely no common sense when it comes to west coast politicians. But than, they never cut there own grass.
BillWojo
So what was this law intended for? Everyone I know uses a funnel today. California enacted this law and for some reason it became nation wide. There is absolutely no common sense when it comes to west coast politicians. But than, they never cut there own grass.
BillWojo
CKDC
Super Member
I wonder if they spelled all the words correctly when they wrote the bill mandating the use of a check valve.
interalian
Super Member
Another attempt by the 'bubble wrap brigade' to make your life safer. I use bananas on most of my gear - bought a 50 pack of fake Nakamichi banana plugz a few years back and still have a bunch at the ready. Swapping speakers and receivers is a snap compared to fiddling with binding posts and stray wires coming out to short circuit things.
Or the 'child proof' feature on a jerrycan I got for my lawnmower that requires you depress a latch in order to open it. Soon as I got that home, the latch was cut off.
Or the interlock on your car's shifter that requires you to press the brake when shifting from P to R or D etc.
Or the 'child proof' feature on a jerrycan I got for my lawnmower that requires you depress a latch in order to open it. Soon as I got that home, the latch was cut off.
Or the interlock on your car's shifter that requires you to press the brake when shifting from P to R or D etc.
mgosdin
Super Member
That one I can understand based on my Sister & Brother-in-law's description of what happened in 1970 when my 3 year old niece shifted their 67 Pontiac from Drive to Reverse on the Interstate at 85 MPH. Luckily only the transmission suffered any harm.
I tossed the plugs that were in my Pioneer BS-21's in the first 10 minutes after I unboxed them.
Mark Gosdin
interalian
Super Member
Good one.
I was probably about 3 in 1966 or so when I was left unattended in the family car ('59 Chebby), perhaps to listen to the radio, and pulled it out of Park while the engine was off. The car started rolling down the street and a quick-thinking teenager jumped in and stopped the car. In those days, it was the norm for the kid to be paddled for such an offence and this was no exception, despite the fact being left unattended would today have been a police matter for my parents. But I digress...
JoeESP9
ESL's & tubes since 83
You see that's what happens with those pesky automatic transmissions. If the car had a manual transmission it's most likely the emergency brake would have been on.
OMGCat!
Super Member
I'll agree that dumb people have been around forever but it was up to them to figure out how to stay alive back then. If they drank a gallon of caustic soda because it looked tasty or tried to change their fan belts while the engine was still running then the entire gene pool benefitted.
Now we have warnings and banana plug blockers and such so such people stay around and have offspring who need even more warning labels. It's turtles all the way down from here.
Now we have warnings and banana plug blockers and such so such people stay around and have offspring who need even more warning labels. It's turtles all the way down from here.
To me it would seem that modern operation manuals would contain just too many warnings in rather random sequence - so that the average customer won't really read these anymore. So if they'd leave out the general, more or less self-evident ones, that might leave more attention for the possibly not so obvious product-specific warnings. Alternatively they could at least divide the warnings into sensible sections, so that the experienced users could more easily skip those they already are aware of...
Greetings from Munich!
Manfred / lini
Greetings from Munich!
Manfred / lini
savatage1973
Addicted Member
"Refer all inquiries to our Legal Dept."--enough said...
Years (decades) ago, I purchased a 27" CRT TV that had a warning tag on the power cord advising me "not to use this device in the shower or attempt to balance on the side of a bathtub"--you know the only reason that tag was on there is that someone did it. Kind of like McDonalds having to tell people that hot coffee it actually hot and the "hot surface" warnings on my kitchen range-top and gas grill.
CKDC
Super Member
"Refer all inquiries to our Legal Dept."--enough said...
Years (decades) ago, I purchased a 27" CRT TV that had a warning tag on the power cord advising me "not to use this device in the shower or attempt to balance on the side of a bathtub"--you know the only reason that tag was on there is that someone did it. Kind of like McDonalds having to tell people that hot coffee it actually hot and the "hot surface" warnings on my kitchen range-top and gas grill.
Or, agree to post warnings as part of a settlement because you served coffee that was way too hot... coffee that was served way too hot because it was cheaper to serve way too hot coffee than serve a better tasting cup of coffee. (It gets tiresome when people keep repeating stuff out of ignorance.)
Poultrygeist
Lunatic Member
I think the last time I encountered the little red and black blockers I popped them out with a small screwdriver.
Tim64
Super Member
That was back in the mid 70's the McDonalds coffee was so hot it melted her polyester pants or so it got around. May be myth but I know it burned the hell out of her.
whoaru99
Epic Member
Yeah, melting polyester with coffee is definitely a myth/urban legend. Polyester melts at something like 480F. Even if the coffee was at a full boil, by the time it was poured and served it'd probably be ~200F worst case. That's hot enough to cause a problem if spilled on you, but not nearly hot enough to melt polyester.
toxcrusadr
Omelette au Fromage
I have gear where the banana plugs only go part way in. You think there are blockers in there? Or are they usually blocking the hole completely?
whoaru99
Epic Member
Maybe on yours someone mashed them in if there was any electrical contact possible for the banana plugs.
Those in mine were just like as shown back in post #17.
Sieb Mulder
New Member
In the 80s a friend of mine gave me a very nice but broken Sony TA 4650 amp (nowadays a very desirable collectors item) for free. He got it from his boss who was fed up with it because the power transistors blew up several times and each time he had to bring it to Sony for very costly repairs. It turned out the cleaning lady at his house would sometimes pull the banana plugs from the speakers when moving the speakers to clean the floor. Afterwards she would then plug the bananas (coming from the amp) into the 220V AC wall outlets! After one more costly repair I enjoyed this great amp for many years!
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"Refer all inquiries to our Legal Dept."--enough said...
Years (decades) ago, I purchased a 27" CRT TV that had a warning tag on the power cord advising me "not to use this device in the shower or attempt to balance on the side of a bathtub"--you know the only reason that tag was on there is that someone did it. Kind of like McDonalds having to tell people that hot coffee it actually hot and the "hot surface" warnings on my kitchen range-top and gas grill.
Recently here in the UK where mains voltage is 240vac a prospective candidate for the Darwin Awards attempted to use his iphone in the bath whilst it was on charge.
He got through to the next round.
