I think this episode has the most meme potential of them all, Tim's noises in the beginning, "lots of spaghetti", "three of them in my glory hole". Tim shows off his cool old gadgets and provides fantastic laughs all at once!
This episode really is the best. The glory hole at 1:13 The "oh shit" at 7:42 The random spaghetti, And the fact that he says the episode is about electric toys and then brings out a fucking lamp.
Used to work in a orthopaedic hospital years ago, they had very similar ones they still used for therapies(the heat helps with the pain and relaxation, there was a different model that produced UV rays so it helped bone growth etc..)
I like that StingRay toy, The Arc lamp reminds me of James Burke's "Connections" multi-part TV series. The Arc lamp was part of the lead-in to each episode. Well worth watching, one of the very best shows available on TV and now DVD too.
That carbon arc predates the incandescent light bulb by decades. They have had a wide variety of uses including giant spotlights used for outdoor advertising, illuminating enemy aircraft, and in cinema projectors. They can also be used for cutting, brazing and welding steel.
6:00 Carbon Arcs are still used today, just not as a light source. It's used in a process called Air Carbon Arc Gouging. Its basically a weld eraser. It works almost like a Stick welder, but instead of laying metal down, it blows it away as the metal and the carbon electrode melts. Pretty cool stuff to see, kinda a pain in the ass to do it though
Tim acknowledges his glory-hole 1:13 Time swears 7:42 Tim calls sting rays 'science fiction': 9:35 Just have some water from the nile and a 'heh' at the end of you've got Grand Illusions BINGO.
