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UPS delivered my preban gas cans today. Aren't they cute?

There's a certain thrill and sadness in owning what amounts to a machine gun, as far as our fascist government is concerned: the regulation is similar in nature.

The story of the Jerry Can ban has a small twist in it, which underscores nicely what kind of government we have. The civilian cans have a safety pin that makes opening them more difficult than probably necessary; it has to be twisted correctly before pulling. And after that, pulling the lever requires a considerable effort. This venerable design was banned by environazis, that mandated ridiculously inconvenient "CARB" nozzles which were supposed to reduce the vapor release. In actual fact, as it often happens with government ideas, they increased the release, because it's next to impossible to pour using a CARB nozzle without spilling the gasoline all over. The only semi-workable way that I found was to defeat the nozzle with one hand and pour into a funnel. That way at least I won't get covered in a flammable and noxious liquid. However, destruction of the environment was not the worst about it. CARB cans -- unlike the design they displaced -- turned out to be too easy for dumb children to overturn and/or open, and so they were banned too, leaving us with a completely useless "childproof" design (which is probably less childproof than the one I now possess). I'm pretty sure everyone who buys them simply removes the cap at once, and a black market for replacement caps is to follow swiftly.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at 02:50 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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