There are few engineering tasks that cannot be handled with a can of WD-40

[major_clanger]

Although some particularly challenging ones require a Leatherman and some gaffer tape.

Fortunately, the sticky latch on the front door of our flats wasn't one of the latter. Another victory for what is truly the sort of wonder material that Hugo Gernsback used to equip his square-jawed and mighty-browed heroes with.

"But Professor! How will we make good our escape from the tentacled hordes of Sqaumon 3 if the planet's corrosive atmosphere has fouled the differential analyzer securing our rocketship's airlock?"

"Fear not! In emergency supplies pouch 17 of my patent synthaleather space-suit I have a small, pressurized container of a special petrochemical-based lubricant I recently concocted. Its special water-displacing powers - attained only at the fortieth attempt at synthesis* - combined with the lubricating properties of its long-chain molecules allow it to cut through surface corrision. If I use the cunningly-incorporated nozzle to deliver it into the lock mechanism, then a quick agitation of the analyzer by twisting the input dials according to the Fibonacci sequence cross-multiplied with the vital statistics of your pressure garment will free the gears thus!"

*Yes, this is actually how WD-40 got its name.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

The oddest piece of product placement I have seen in a long while is for WD 40. It's in a film funded in Hong Kong but made in the Philippines, with the bizarre English name of Tough Beauty and the Sloppy Slop (the Chinese title is Yuan Hai Wei Lung, translating as Angry Sea Mighty Dragon). There's a scene where one of the cops is cleaning his gun with a cloth and lubricant. He places the can down and very carefully turns the lable to face the camera... WD 40.

[nmg.livejournal.com]

attained only at the fortieth attempt at synthesis

I always assumed that Mitchell and Butlers' Brew XI was so named for similar reasons.

Having tasted it, I believe that they should have held out for future improvement.

[akicif.livejournal.com]

Makes sense. One of my colleagues always used to call the stuff "May & Baker's".

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

I occasionally wonder how the world would have survived into the C21st if they'd given up after attempt #39.

[maureenkspeller.livejournal.com]

well, the timer in the Brisngamen household's central heating wouldn't be working, that's for sure.

[maureenkspeller.livejournal.com]

WD-40, a Leatherman and gaffer tape ... as a philosophy, it works for me.

[perlmonger.livejournal.com]

Yep. Wonderful stuff.

Oh, and in extremis a Leatherman Crunch, to be precise - the mole grip on mine is my single most useful (and often used) tool.