Yesterday at the grocery store the clerk, maybe 18 or so, was struggling to remember the name of this big purple thing I handed him. I let him hang for a bit, shuffling through the book, when I said "It's an eggplant". The news was not received well.

It's not so much a generational thing as an American thing.

An egg is not a plant.

He was probably thinking "What an odd thing to call an aubergine, it looks positively nothing like an egg"

Also, what proof do you have that he was American and that this is "an American thing". Cite your sources, fucker.

He indicated that he thought it might begin with the letter B....

Abbie-Jean, like the daughter of Lana Kane and Sterling Archer?

Hey OW, thought of you in the past day -- we've had some sewer back-up problems, and I had to put together a water level detector with me trusty electronics kit. Real actual professional water level detectors are being shipped even as we speak, but for now, it looks like there's a bomb in my basement constructed out of Fisher Price parts.

I too, often think of this site and it's inhabitants when my toilet backs up...

Did you use the 30 in 1 kit? Wonderful! To give you some idea how primitive my thinking has become, if tasked today, I would build it with 5 things. A battery, a buzzer, a clothspin and a sugar cube. Wire for the fifth. I'll leave the configuration of those elements to you as a puzzle.

I'm using the Elenco 130 project kit, and the water detector circuit (project 115) is transistorized, so that even a tiny current thru the water is enough to make the speaker go off.

Sugar cube melts and the clothespin snaps shut, completing the connection? I like it!

My thinking remains way primitive and I'm trying to do something about that; like I still don't get how the transistor bases in this project ever see any current. (Do PNPs and NPNs function differently? Maybe that's it.) I'm still trying to construct the mental vocabulary to look at a schematic and have a "feel" for what it does; it's slow going.

My circuit also detects two other common basement fault conditions: ants and mice. It's hardened against EMP, in the event Vladimire decides to start rearing up North there. So much for so little, you see.

Presumably in your circuit there's a gap between two wires and the water acts like a conductor?

Yes! Only thing is, water isn't itself a great conductor -- it relies upon dissolved ionic solids (i.e. salts), which may or may not be present in great measure -- so the circuit doesn't use the water to carry the current that powers the speaker. Instead, current through the water causes a transistor to flip on, which then completes the circuit to the speaker.

I'm guessing it's the same principle as this thing:

http://www.amazon.com/Glentronics-Inc-BWD-HWA-Basement-Watchdo g/dp/B000JOK11K/ref=sr_1_1

... turns out PNPs and NPNs do operate differently, the former conduct with negative base voltage, and the latter conduct with positive base voltage. I'd swear I knew that when I was 21.

It's what's called buffering the output of the sensor with a transistor. You could do the same with the clothspin switch, use the same circuit you have now. If the mouse detection is unwanted, and for better performance overall, try an alkaseltzer tablet.

But if your crapper is flooding over, FOR GOD"S SAKE MAN, STOP GEEKING AROUND AND CALL A PLUMBER!

I already have a duly-authorized Mouse Police force, and frankly they're all corrupt as fuck and don't do their job by the book.

The geeking around isn't a problem because 1) the sewer is still draining (albeit slowly) and 2) the sewer line emerges into a "box" in the basement where I see down into the main line, without it slopping all over the place. (My impromptu detector alerts me to water level in the box.) We only noticed the problem during a marathon laundry session -- overflow of non-poopy water -- and have tried caustic drain cleaner, and are now trying the enzymatic cleaner. If that doesn't do it, then yes, plumber it is.

Plumber's verdict: it's tree roots. I was fully expecting a shoe or some Hot Wheels.

My condolences. If it is actually tree roots, they'll grow back. Did they show you bits of root? I was also so diagnosed, but with no physical evidence, and it turned out to be hair. I didn't pull up the pipe, but came close to it. Fine sieves on the drains now save us a yearly jetting of the main line.

No, I didn't ask to see the evidence. I was too busy being embarrassed that someone had apparently also flushed ... panty liners? it's unclear what exactly ... whatever it was, that also was blocking things up. Frau Bort doesn't use that stuff and she knows better anyway, we're thinking it was one of her relatives who's always swinging by. A great many of them were raised in barns, and I don't mean in a good way like the Amish.

The plumber had no opinion on my water detector, none that he was willing to voice anyway.

Vetetarian-types. This is like talking to my former grandpa-in-law: "Oh you're a vegetarian, so chicken's ok?"

"Gotta take a look in the viewfinder.." This guy's awesome.

Well he is a child molester…