> Well, I've been working for a while changing
> engines in my favorite scooter. It has not
> been an easy project, because the scooter is so
> old. Well, younger than me, I suppose, but old
> for a scooter.
>
> Somewhere in the process, I dropped a small
> quarter inch lock washer. It went down behind
> the air shroud, and I assumed it wound up on
> the floor. No such luck. It stopped on the
> bottom of the magneto which of course is
> magnetic.
>
. . .
>
> After leaving the driveway, I started gaining
> speed. Centrifical force soon overcame
> magnetic attraction, and that little lost
> washer came off. It hit the gas line, knocking
> a small hole in it and continued on to get
> caught between the chain and the rear wheel
> sprocket. Since the chain had just been
> adjusted, it was nice and tight and the little
> washer was just enough to cause one link to
> snap. This all happened in the blink of an
> eye. With the chain no longer connecting he
> engine to the rear wheel, it over reved and
> broke the connecting rod in the engine and it
> knocked a hole in the oil pan and blew a hole
> through the piston.
>
. . .

That sounds a lot like a book that I once read, called "Codgerspace" by Alan Dean Foster. In that story, the entire course of human history is changed because of a single drop of melted cheese.

When I first read the book, I was 12 or 13, and I really enjoyed it then. (I'm not sure if I'd still recommend it - I'd have to read it again.) I do remember that it was fun to see the way that such a minor event could ripple out into greater and greater consequences.

- E"Butterfly Effect"nigma