Has anyone had a MacGyver-type improvised repair or event where you had to make something work out of stuff that you had handy at the time? Please explain.
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plaidman is a sanity bandit
ANSWERS: 4
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I have a habit of rigging up inventive fixes to things... but the one that comes to mind was when I was in college. My roommate had a habit of keeping over a dozen various-scented shampoos, lotions, washes and scrubs in the bathtub at once. In order to facilitate this habit, she went out and got one of those three-shelf corner racks for the tub. Unfortunately, without the extension in it, the rack was about three inches too short to reach the ceiling. With the extension, it was about an inch too long to fit, even with the spring inside removed. She was going to return it, but I REALLY wanted to get those bottles off the floor of the bathtub! What I did was take it apart, and using a penny across the top of the spring, I boosted the top by about four inches by putting an old dried out magic marker on top of the penny, and putting it all back together. (The penny was necessary, as the marker fit inside the spring.) I wonder what ever happened to that shelf. I guess she took it with her.
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I had an old VW Super Beetle, and one night on a dark highway the throttle cable broke, so the engine couldn't get any gas. This was in pre-cell phone days, so no way to call for help. My friend and I pulled the broken cable out through the engine in the back, and rigged up a handle using duct tape and a pen, so we could pull on the cable manually and give the engine gas. Trouble was, the cable + handle wasn't long enough to reach the front seat, so I hung out the sunroof, facing backwards, and when he needed to shift I'd let the cable go slack, then pull it again to give the engine gas. We drove 20 miles that way until we pulled into a gas station in lovely King City, CA. You shoulda seen the look on the face of the attendant as we pulled in...but we got there ;)
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I was driving back to my apartment after visiting my GF (who lived about 30 miles away) and seen a set of hazard lights ahead of me. It was cold and snowing moderatly (Minnesota in the winter) so I stopped to check on whomever it was. Turns out it was someone going to the same collage as me but in auto mechanics instead. He already diagnosed the problem but didn't have anything to fix it. (alternator wire broke, so truck had no power) Since I was in electronics, I happened to have wire with me. Specifically, alligator clip jumpers. We clipped the jumpers (two to handle the power) to the screw and then connected them to the broken wire and started the truck up. I followed him home to make sure he made it (he had to pick up his GF from work first). But then the story gets better... about two months later, my GF and I were going to meet an old friend of hers. As she gave me directions on where to turn, I started to get Deja Vu. She directed me right to his house! We had an interesting reunion to say the least!
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They are called "Maker Faire" and they are held around the globe
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