Nice tool for anybody just salvaging parts from old electronics:

http://www.crystalradio.net/cal/resistor.htm

Also a nice printable (if you so choose) Diode ID Color Chart:

http://www.crystalradio.net/cal/diodeid.shtml

Heck, dig around the whole site :D

http://www.crystalradio.net

cool thanx.. I know with some electrical wiring, the color coding has actually CHANGED over the years.. thus making a difficult and dangerous job.. even more so.

^^^
Tell me about it!
In the elecronics world it has been the same for decades.
Black = ground
Red = B+
Blue = Plate

etc, etc, etc,,,

In the 'electrical' world it used to be:
Black = hot
White = neutral
Green = gnd

Now it seems to be that:
Brown = hot
Blue = neutral
Green/White = gnd

Why not just wire me up and give me a lethal injection?


Serously though... I can look at a resistor, right side up or upside down, and I can tell you it's value without even having to think about it. Kinda the way you could look at the word "cat" and not have to spell it out to know what it means.