2013

2013
Is not a prime number
As 33 x 61 = 2013
However 61
Is a prime number
And 33 = 11 x 3
Where 11
Is a prime number
And so is number 3
Therefore
What does that mean?
It means that in your life
2013 will be the only year
That can be attained
By multiplying
Three prime numbers
3 x 11 x 61
Happy New Year!




Courtesy of Intergalactic Jedi Golf Federation School of Mathematics



.

One Birdie At Night

One Birdie At
Night Flying
Through The Dark Sky To
Reach The Far End That
After Years May Finally
Be Within Grasp Considers
Turning Back Only
To Fly Faster Towards
The Rising Sun





..

No Love is Greater

No love is greater 

Than the love of parents

For their child

And no grief greater

Than the grief of parents

Who lost them

No amount of tears

No amount of wailing

Can express the anguish

And deep sorrow

For those who so loved their child

So much and so dearly

Only if you can turn back the time

If only for few more moments

To hold them and feel their breath

But that day will come

When you will see them again

Never again to be parted

Forever and ever

Just not now

Or tomorrow

But that day will come

A day closer tomorrow
Than today

Time will not go fast enough

But that day surely will come

Dedicated to those who loved and lost the most precious lives of their existence at Sandy Hook. 

So how many tries does it take to replace one outlet?

On a sunny Saturday afternoon I decided to go around the house and replace worn down outlets. Total of five outlets were replaced. Included among them was one outlet in the office that has a switch for the top plug. In another words, each outlet has two plugs one on the top and one on the bottom. The top plug is connected to a switch by the door that can be used to turn on and off the lamp that is connected to that plug.

So I go to the fuse box outside the house and turn off power to the outlets. Then I come back in and open up the face plate for the outlet and take out the worn out device. I noticed total of five wires.  Two black on the right side one attached to top plug and the other attached to bottom plug, two white on the left side one attached to the top plug and the other attached to bottom plug, and a ground wire attached at the bottom side.
So far so good.
I figured that's simple enough. Thought to myself, "The room switch must control the power to the top plug". Piece of cake.
So I proceeded to disconnect all the wires and reconnect them to the new outlet exactly how it was connected before in terms of their relative position to one another. Just to make sure.
Put the outlet back in the wall box and closed the face plate.
Went back outside and turned the power back on. Came back inside. Plugged in the lamp to the new top outlet plug. And Voila! Light comes on!!!

Except I tried to turn the lamp off by turning off the room switch and it stayed on. !@#$!@#%@#$%!!!
Damn it! I cussed to myself and tried the bottom plug. And it had power also. And it also didn't turn off with the room switch.

What da F@#$k!!! After few minutes of wrapping my brain while looking at the new spare outlet I bought I finally figured it out........(at least for now).

I noticed the top and bottom connections on the side of the plug are connected to each other by a metal plate in between. Which means if only one hot black wire is connected to one screw (either one) it will supply power for both plugs top and bottom since they are connected.
Ah ha!!
So all I had to do was to disconnect the connection. Conveniently and obviously for this exact purpose the connecting plate came with a little knob that you can wiggle to disconnect which further supported my hypothesis. I noticed same connecting plate on the other side for the pair of white wires. So I took my ranch out and wiggled both plate connector knobs and disconnected them on each side. Problem solved.

Feeling empowered and brilliant for having figured it out I put the corrected outlet back into the wall box and closed the face plate. Went back outside and turn the power back on. Came back inside and plugged the lamp into the top outlet and turn on the room switch. And Voila!!! Now I can turn the lamp on and off by the room switch! Success!!

But the feeling of success only lasted few minutes until I realized that now the two hall way ceiling lights leading into the office are out. WHAT DA !@#$!@#$!@#%!@#$!!!!!

Now I was really confused.
How in the hell the hall way lights related to a wall outlet???
Or is it just a coincidence that the two light bulbs went out because of turning the fuse box on and off multiple times??
So I replaced the light bulb and still doesn't work. What the heck!?!?
So it must be related to the wall outlet. But how??
After meditating on the problem for few minutes I vaguely remembered from my college physics on electrodynamics that all circuitry has to be in a closed loop. So somewhere, somehow, by replacing the outlet I have severed a electric flow.
And it hit me.

The top plug hot black wire on the right is switched by the room switch. And that is connected to the white exiting wire on the top left thus maintaining the flow of current.

The bottom hot black wire on the right is constant unswitched wire. However, now that I have severed the metal plate connection between the top and bottom plug on the left the current has nowhere to go! And this loop is part of the hallway lights!!!

Never have I imagined replacing a wall plug would require so much thought!

So now I have to go back and replace the whole outlet one more time.

So how many tries does it take to replace one outlet???
Theoretically just one.

But in my case, THREE.

I took out the electric meter and confirmed the completion of the circuitry with top left and bottom right plug holes. But the question lingers.
If that is the case what is the purpose of the white wire that is connected to the bottom left plug connection???

UPDATE: After replacing the outlet with minor adjustment - leaving the left pate connection intact and severing the right plate connection - everything is now working perfectly. The upper plug is switched on and off and the hall way lights are back on. As for the white wire that is connected to the lower left side of the plug it must be wire coming off the hall way lights. The only puzzling thing is that it wasn't necessary for this wire to be connected to this outlet. I suppose it was a matter of convenience to close the loop in this outlet box instead of having another connection somewhere in the wall.

The job is now complete! Thank you very much.

Moral of the Story: Don't fear the electricity. Fear your lack of understanding.