I agree with that! There are those out there who would rather chew a ball of tinfoil than use a short starter, and YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE! :blah: Personally, I find it hard to believe that of the 10's of thousands of people who owned ML's back then, there wasn't one intelligent chap who thought to himself "There must be a better way to start this darn tight ball and patch." and came up with a short starter. They may not have been in widespread use, but I'm sure there were a few around. Therefore, I take it upon myself to deem them Period Correct, and use one every time I load. If others prefer not to, that is their choice, just don't tell me I can't.