Soldering and other skills

Rumor has it that Fred Cisin (XenoSoft) may have mentioned these words: My grandfather and I had discussed this about 7-8 years ago (before the heart attack & stroke that left him wheelchair bound) and we were discussing soldering, the dangers of lead, and whatnot, and he said something very similar: "I've been soldering my whole life, and it hasn't affected me one bit." To which I simply replied: "How do you know, grandpa?" He said "I feel fine, and I'm in pretty good shape for being [insert age here... don't remember exactly how old he was, but was right close to if not 80 years]." Where I countered: "One of the symptoms of long-term lead poisoning is short-term memory loss... and you've admitted that your short-term memory isn't what it used to be. How do you *know* that it isn't the lifetime of soldering & being around lead that hasn't caused it?" All I heard was: "Hrmmmph... Hmmmm... You know you're right? I never thought of it like that." ... or DDT, or PCB, or... Granted, in another 20 years they'll probably prove *broccoli* can give you cancer... ;-) Laterz, Roger "Merch" Merchberger -- Roger "Merch" Merchberger --- sysadmin, Iceberg Computers Recycling is good, right??? Ok, so I'll recycle an old .sig. If at first you don't succeed, nuclear warhead disarmament should *not* be your first career choice.