Well, "old timers" these days are entitled to be curmudgeonly. What! We can send men to the moon but we can't build a quiet gen set? *grin* It was easier back in the day. We had no sober-scientific public image to live up to. Everyone expected, as the saying goes, that "everything we do makes noise or stinks". Y'know, sulfur / zinc, fer cryin' in a basket. Now we have to be careful not to pee in the perchlorate shrimp sinkhole and set off the BLM's pH sensor. Life would be so much simpler if it were a railroad enthusiasts' camp-out instead, where malefactors could be banished to the wrong side of the tracks. Cheers, Mark L (from DC where all is Peace'n'Luv except when the power goes out in the $1M-homes neighborhoods and the neighbors run their gen all night) In a message dated 5/2/2011 1:15:17 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, ecartis@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes: I know there are some "old timers" out there that must be getting a kick out of our discussion about generator etiquette. Richard