Now here's something to do on a rainy day... make your own triode vacuum tube. 

Watch this 17 minute video on the Make Magazine blog site. It will surely keep you amazed. 

This French technician demonstrates some incredible skills fabricating something none of us would dream of trying ourselves ... making a usable vacuum tube.

I remember when I worked at the Lawrence Berkeley Lab, they had an incredible team of technicians who could fabricate practically anything. Occasionally their glass-blowing skills would be put on display. It was totally amazing what they could create.

And I'm sure that just about any large research laboratory employed a number of artisans like this French guy in the video. I suspect that many of these skills are disappearing from the general consciousness. But we can watch with awe as someone recreates that mystique.

Another site that demonstrates similarly awesome skills is the Steampunk Workshop