{"id":4,"date":"2004-02-07T06:07:55","date_gmt":"2004-02-07T14:07:55","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=4"},"modified":"2004-02-07T06:07:55","modified_gmt":"2004-02-07T14:07:55","slug":"2-geiger-counter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/heavylittleobjects.com\/?p=4","title":{"rendered":"#2 :: Geiger counter"},"content":{"rendered":"

sick<\/a> sick<\/a> ‘popup’,’width=500,height=500,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0′); return false”><\/a>At a certain size, you start letting the experts do the measuring. Boats – believe the manufacturer. Homes? Your realtor’s bonded. Anything over 50 feet or s0, you’d rather see a pair of guys in hazard-orange tunics and hardhats fiddling with lasers than trust your own wits and tools. Mis-measured real estate lands in court, and poorly calculated building-materials orders leave you with either holes in your house or an extra truckload of fancy firewood. This is a tool for settling disputes, a spring-steel peacemaker on a reel, clad in leatherette and trimmed in chrome. It’s a Keuffel & Esser Co. Favorite Wyteface (Reg. U.S. Pat. Off.) They go for about $10 on eBay<\/a>, which is a damn sight cheaper than you’ll pay for a new Stanley that size.
\nI collect heavy little things. <\/p>\n

Tools, for sale<\/a> parts, toys, instruments, tchotchkes – the weight of some new thing in my hand, often small, metallic and well machined, compels me to add it to my life.<\/p>\n

It’s instinct by now. I can’t say why these things are important, or why I haven’t bothered cataloguing them until this day – they almost litter my office, my pockets, my car, my home. But this is as good a place to start as any.
\n <\/a> ‘popup’, side effects<\/a> ‘width=500,height=500,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0’); return false”><\/a>The archetypal heavy little thing.<\/p>\n

The drivetrain crapped out on our decrepit Schwinn tandem. I yanked this off to replace it, and it’s been sitting on my desk ever since. Put your thumb through it and spin it. It makes a pleasant, hushed clicking noise.
\nunhealthy<\/a> ‘popup’, pilule<\/a> ‘width=500,height=500,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0’); return false”><\/a>This atomic-age relic has a mystic weight to it. Almost two pounds, despite being no more than nine inches long.<\/p>\n

The ammo-box-styled latches open to reveal the guts – a transistor board, D-cell battery cradle and a rather unremarkable thick cylinder that must be the radiation-detector itself.<\/p>\n

The sickening neon-green enamel covering the ammo-box-style case with cast-aluminum handle is punctuated by several things:
\n<\/p>\n