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Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Fouined Again!
When last I wrote of an encounter with a fouine (Martes foina), I mentioned their proclivity for chowing down on the ignition wires and rubber hoses of automobile engines, and that Fourmilab vehicles had been “fouined” three times. Well, make that four. On my last mission in shuttle craft Bernoulli, it just didn't seem to have the usual pep and really struggled when climbing out of a gravity well. After shutdown, I noticed the distinct odor of unreacted propellant around the stern. Inspection of the engine room revealed the obvious and usual cause for these symptoms: firing on three cylinders courtesy of a fouine! Note that the circled ignition wire in the picture to the right (which you can click to enlarge) ends several centimetres short of the spark plug, the missing part having served as a gourmet snack for some mustelid malefactor. I will hook up the severed end of the cable to the spark plug with Barney clips and proceed to Shuttlebay トヨタ for a newPosted at February 7, 2007 00:45