All hail this piece of shale

[Edward Campodonico]

Years ago, at a meeting back in 1993 we were using slide projectors. They are lit up by a lamp inside which makes an electrical arch that gives off light. Herb [Parsons] was not here and I was here with three or four part timers. We were going to load up the next speaker and we turn on the projector and it starts making this electrical noise inside and it is not turning on. So we take the cover off and we flip on the lamp. For some reason the electrical arch is grounding against a metal post inside the projector so what is happening is the electric is not going to the light and so the light is not turning on. I thought, "Gee, what are we going to do." So, we go out[side] Grace and find a piece of shale, a little broken piece of shale. I wedged it between the lamp and the metal post which was causing the arch and we flip on the switch and sure enough it lights up. And we ran through 6 of the last speakers at the meeting with that rock and with the cover off so the whole room was lit up by this intensity of bright light. We were saying, "Please don't fall...please don't fall. In fact, I still have that piece of shale because it saved our asses that day. And its got a little burn mark. It goes to show what goes on behind the scenes. These guys [meeting attendees] did not know a single thing. I was laughing, I said, "Here we have an 8,500 dollar projector and it is being held together by a piece of rock we found outside on the ground."

Those are problems you don't get anymore now that we've become digitized...you know, you can't stick a rock in a computer...