Endangered supplies

I recently bought a can of “chrome” spray paint and the ID requirement was posted. At my age it would have been a bit silly to ask me for an ID, but if the clerk did I would have understood. It’s the law. “Huffing” (which is the term used for paint sniffing) may not seem like a serious problem, but it is.

Apparently huffing was a major problem with soldiers in Iraq, because no beer or liquor was allowed, some used the cans of compressed air that were bought to dust out keyboards. Anyway that’s a whole other story

apparently huffing is a major problem in latin America and with aboriginal people in australia

Hate to get into the huffing thing too much but the step-son of a long time friend of mine got into that habit using spray paint. He was (past tense intended) a great kid; likeable and talented.
In his late teens he tried jumping a freight train one night while looped on paint and went underneath the wheels. The 25 degree weather at night is the only thing that saved his life as it clotted the massive blood loss very quickly before a railroad yard worker found him.

He lost both arms, one leg, broke half his ribs, and crushed his pelvis not to mention a dozen other minor injuries. By all rights he should have been dead.
DId he learn a lesson? Nope.
He had his brother smuggle paint into the hospital a few days afterwards and a year or so later I ran into him and invited him over for a visit. Once at my house I found he had a paint saturated sock in his jacket and he wanted to huff on that. He was given an option in front of my kids; stay and visit as long as you want anytime sans paint or leave. He chose the latter and left with no hard feelings.

A few years later he was dead from paint huffing and the real tragedy is that he was a great kid other than the paint use. He was a drummer before the accident and took up painting after the accident. I thought he was going to knock the art world dead with his works. He did mostly portrait and landscape paintings in oil by using his teeth to handle the brushes and his work was nothing less than fantastic.

Maybe this tale could be remembered and used as an example to discourage others who think sniffing paint, glue, or anything else is the ultimate cheap high.

if one kid listens, its worth telling the horrible tale OK4450

Ok4450, I plan to share your story with my son (who turns 10 next month). It’s always better if we can learn something from others’ mistakes rather than to go through them ourselves.

i agree, my daughter just turned twelve and I think I ll let her read it too

They still are making them. The old Western Electric plant that built the WE-300 tube was recommissioned over 10 years ago because of the demand for tube amps. If you ever listened to a nice tube system you’ll understand why.

I did not know that, nor did my SIL. Where is this factory, just out of curiosity? Yes, the reason people will pay that money is because it sounds so much better. To those who can hear it. At my age, 72, it isn’t worth it.

I’ve never got into the audio tube thing for radio/cd but as for guitar amps it’s the only way to go. Pretty much all the tubes come from Russia or China. Sovtek, electro-harmonix, winged C, the list goes on. But the best stuff is NOS (new old stock) American stuff from the tube heyday

The MSDS system is a classic example of unintended consequences. Under the law, an MSDS is required only for hazardous materials, but how do you know if it’s hazardous? Well, you ask for the MSDS! Here’s one for Elmer’s School Glue:

http://elmers.com/docs/default-source/msds-sheets/me301_d-htm.htm?sfvrsn=0

I have heard people some places take metal containers of gasoline and put them on top of a fire to vaporize the fumes so they can huff them. I guess they separate the fire from the fumes as this seems like a perfect way to cause an explosion. It sounds like a sweat lodge type of setup from how it was described to me and they breath concentrated vapors boiling off the pot of heated gasoline. I hear is pretty much fries one’s brain and nervous system after not too long. I was shocked when I was told about this but nothing surprises me nowadays.