A couple of years ago I was in Moscow, Russia on a business trip for a high> level technology transfer. My Russian is quite rusty since I haven't used> it since my teen years but it was my first language. According to the> Russians, the more we drank the better my Russian got and the same for their> English. As things progressed we became used to each other and opened up> especially after consuming beer along with vodka.> From time to time we strayed from our main objectives and when one of the> PHD scientists heard that I had a Mercedes diesel he cornered me.> He worked at Zelenograd Research Institute, a heavily guarded facility> outside Moscow that is similar to our NASA facilities, space age research.> According to him a not so good or interesting objective was to develop a> better starting system for their diesels in Siberia because their batteries> had to supply all they could for turning the starter at minus 40C without> block heaters, not leaving much for glow plug heating. He said they> succeeded but I didn't find out much more because the vodka led me astray.> We returned to the US with many small samples of metals, ceramics, and> materials we had no English words for. When the labs got these samples to> test them, they were totally lost because of such weird properties. Common> properties such as tensile and compressive strengths exceeded the> capabilities of the labs destructive testing facilities, in fact some> testing equipments failed while the sample to be destroyed survived. Some> samples defied all chemical and spectrographic tests to identify their basic> chemistry. Expansion on cooling and no change on heating or cooling were> common observations as were weird electronic properties. The Soviets> ability to launch heavy payloads into space of the class of a steam> locomotive we're just beginning to be understand. There is no end to the> problems identifying the properties or the final application for the> material. But to get to the point, buried in all the samples boxes was a> box that contained a small plastic accordian atomizer with a fine salt and> pepper powder in it with a cryptic note in Russian instructing me to give> one squeeze of the bottle into the nozzle of the air cleaner at below zero> temperatures when the diesel starts cranking, so it takes two people and> only one puff, without any need to preheat. I had forgotten that I had it> but have since found it I can hardly wait for winter to test it out but I'm> a little concerned that it has caked up while in storage. I took the lid> off and poked with a stick to break it up and got enough loose to be able to> squirt the powder. It makes a little cloud that kind of floats in the air.> The particles are finer than any talc or flour I've seen and its hard to> wash off.. It makes your eyes water and causes you to sneeze. I got brave> and made another small cloud about a foot in diameter, backed up and threw a> match at it. It ignited and made sort of a fireball of spectacular colors> like a rainbow, then just white smoke. I told the lab guys and they just> laughed and said they've not surprised but they've had their fill of> chasing their tails trying to figure out the unknown. I can't find any> funds to have the powder tested Letters to Zelenograd have not been> answered. So I guess I have to wait for winter and see what gives.>

box that contained a small plastic accordian atomizer with a fine salt and> pepper powder in it with a cryptic note in Russian instructing me to give> one squeeze of the bottle into the nozzle of the air cleaner at below zero> temperatures when the diesel starts cranking, so it takes two people and> only one puff, without any need to preheat. I had forgotten that I had

but have since found it I can hardly wait for winter to test it out but

squirt the powder. It makes a little cloud that kind of floats in the

match at it. It ignited and made sort of a fireball of spectacular